Open Innovation
Digital radiography for welds
Nuclear Industry
Dates of challenge :
- Opening date : june 2021
- Closing date : september 2021
Objet du challenge
Digital radiography solution for welds
Description et attentes
Orano is looking for a digital radiography solution to increase the speed and productivity of quality control on used nuclear fuel casks manufactured by Orano.
Context
Today, an inspection station is in place (in production area next to the welding station, inspection solution with an exclusion zone).
For the inspection, the shells are installed horizontally on a roller system inside a concrete "bunker", allowing for controlled rotation of the structure. An X-ray image is taken of each weld to be inspected, with the corresponding films developed and visually analyzed by a qualified inspector.
The challenge is to provide a solution for the inspection of welds on fabricated shells (two longitudinal welds of about 2 meters in length and one circular weld of 1.50 meters in diameter), offering two main areas of improvement:
- Reduction in inspection times (today it can take up to three days to perform some inspections)
- Easier data capture, analysis and processing as well as data transmission to customers