Commissioning and licensing
Inspection by the French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN). Flamanville 3 EPR reactor building © EDF, Alexis Morin
Commissioning and licensing of nuclear power plants
Connecting a new nuclear power plant to the grid requires a host of prior tests to obtain the final authorization of the nuclear safety authority concerned.
2,800 tests are carried out every year in our technical centers for equipment qualification purposes.
Framatome provides its customers with support from tests through to final authorization
Framatome has substantial experience with international nuclear safety authorities, regardless of the type of reactor concerned (PWR, BWR, VVER, CANDU, etc.). We guide and assist nuclear operators in completing a variety of procedures:
- Training
- Tests
- Inspection
- Technical specifications
- Documentation
- Qualification studies
- Interface with the safety authorities
Our teams of engineers work with numerous nuclear safety authorities, in France (ASN), the USA (NRC), China (NNSA), the United Kingdom (ONR) and Finland (STUK) for PWR or BWR reactors.
Our technical centers are available to them for testing and qualifying their equipment.
How to optimize in-service inspections?
The in-service inspection of a plant involves monitoring major components during operations with special attention to aging characteristics. Framatome has a complete set of solutions available worldwide, including tooling and modeling capabilities to best address the challenges of in-service inspections.
Framatome’s teams have a unique portfolio of references for operational reactors throughout the world, meeting the requirements of the applicable RSE-M and ASME XI codes. This allows us to offer tailor-made solutions for non-destructive examinations in response to operators’ needs.
What solutions are available for regulatory in-service inspections of the reactor pressure vessel?
Framatome’s modeling tool for conducting periodic non-destructive examinations can be adapted to all designs and all dimensions of reactor pressure vessel.
