Reactor performance, system reliability: instrumentation and control

The safe operation of nuclear power plants relies on Non-destructive Evaluation (NDE) of safety critical components in both the initial manufacturing phase and over the reactor’s lifecycle. The conventional approach consists of in-service inspections scheduled at regular intervals, with a periodicity adapted to expected or observed failure mechanisms and their kinetics. The three projects discussed in this paper address and challenge this approach in different ways. iWeld focuses on the inspection of welds and aims to take information about the microstructure of the material under inspection into account to improve the performance of ultrasound inspections. El-Peacetolero designed a hand-held, low power embedded optoelectronic system for an in-situ real-time assessment of aging polymers. FIND aims to develop in-situ instrumentation adapted to the specific requirements of the nuclear power industry and introduces continuous monitoring of metallic pipes to prevent their failure and optimise maintenance. The three projects discussed are at different stages: El-Peacetolero ends in February 2025, FIND just kicked off, and iWeld is halfway in between. In this review, we try to give a high-level introduction, and discuss particular challenges and achievements.