NDE round-robin test for pressure tube of pressurized heavy water reactor

This paper describes the analysis results of a series of Round-Robin test that was performed to intercompare inspection and diagnosis techniques for characterization of pressure tube of pressurized heavy water reactor under the Coordinated Research Project(CRP) of IAEA's Nuclear Power Programme. For this test, six nations, Korea, Canada, India, Argentina, Rumania, and China that currently have pressurized heavy water reactor under operation involved, and 'KOR-1' pressure tube sample prepared by Korea was used. Two kinds of NDE technique, ultrasonic and eddy current test, were applied for this test. The 'KOR-1' pressure tube sample contains total 12 artificial flaws such as crack-like EDM notches, wear that is similar to the real flaws can be produced on the pressure tube during plant operation. Test results showed that seven laboratories from six nations detected all twelve flaws in 'KOR-1' specimen by using ultrasonic and eddy current test methods, and ultrasonic test method was more accurate than eddy current test method in flaw detection and sizing.