Fuel Services Germany - AREVA NP

AREVA NP has over 30 years of nuclear fuel inspection and repair experience. Our service staff is trained regularly and holds a long lasting experience in their field of work. Our services comprise all activities within examinations of lead test assemblies, all necessary inspections and tests of fuel assemblies and other core components during an outage, reconstitution of fuel assemblies for further use in the reactor and activities within the disposal of fuel assemblies and core components. Furthermore we deliver facilities and systems that are necessary for the above mentioned services. These are in particular facilities for inspections, sipping, repair and for disposal (e.g. conditioning equipment, facility for encapsulation of leaking fuel rods). Continuous research and development guarantee that the applied facilities always comply with the latest state of the art. They are suitable for a variety of fuel assembly designs of AREVA's and external supplier's latest and conventional technology. The facilities are applicable in different BWR-, PWR and VVER nuclear power plants. Inspections in PWR- and BWR Plants: - Measurements with contact and contact less measuring methods of fuel assemblies, fuel rods, fuel channels and other core components; - High-definition video inspections; - Mast-, In-core- and Box-sipping to detect defective fuel assemblies; - Support (e.g. measurements on site) for post irradiation examinations; - Sampling of material (e.g. taking CRUD or material probes) and fuel rod preparation for hot cell examination. Repair in PWR- and BWR Plants: - Exchange of defective fuel rods of a fuel assembly for further use in the reactor and preparation of the fuel assembly or defective fuel rod for disposal; - Reconstitution of fuel assemblies with damaged structure parts (spacer, springs, upper-and lower end fitting). We offer products that meet the requirements of pressure-tightness under water (e. g. for use in the fuel storage pool), that are applicable in aggressive medium (demineralized water) and posses high radiation resistance. Further services are for example: - Control rod inspection; - Oxide thickness measurement on fuel rods and structure components; - Contour measurement on structure parts; - Ultrasonic fuel cleaning; - Gamma scanning of fuel rods; - Design and fabrication of special inspection and handling equipment. (authors)