Research and application of piping inside grinding robots in nuclear power plant

Abstract

Technical installations especially that are subject to special safety criteria should always be kept at the best possible level of operation safety. This applies in particular to their innumerable pipeline systems which require a high level of reliability and safety, such as those in nuclear power plants. Taishan EPR (European Pressurized Reactor) nuclear power plant, which is in Guangdong province in China, has been the first one which succeeds to finish cold function test (CFT) among all the third generation nuclear power stations around the world. Before CFT, a lot of time has been spent to finish the piping inside grinding work, which is supposed to be the first case of nuclear pipe line inside grinding in China, according to RCC-M code and technical specification, to relieve the weld structure from mechanical constrains, specifically high fatigue stress. Inside grinding robots are custom made, from DN100 to DN500, including 4 types of robots, to carry out the inside grinding work in pipes instead of human beings when it is impossible for workers to achieve.