Abstract
The scope of the presented study was to investigate feasibility of Eddy Current Testing (ECT) for detection in storage of inter-granular attack (IGA) cracking and general clad thinning of irradiated fuel cladding from Advanced Gas-cooled Reactors (AGR). The impact of the storage environment, particularly the effect of immersion in water compared to measurements in air, has also been investigated. A miniature EC probe was developed to induce eddy currents in a pin and to read out EC response. The transducer was robotically moved along the AGR pin and multi-frequency EC responses were acquired using a spectrum analyser. Main results of the experimental investigation are the following: even very small artificial defects such as short EDM notches of depth of 100μm produce distinguishable EC response; localised clad thinning of depth of 100μm and above produces considerable EC response levels; effect of water environment on the EC response is negligible; effect of anti-stacking grooves on the EC response is considerable.
| Original language | English |
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| Title of host publication | 54th Annual British Conference of Non-Destructive Testing, NDT 2015 |
| Place of Publication | Northampton |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Publication status | Published - 8 Sept 2015 |
| Event | 54th Annual British Conference of Non-Destructive Testing, NDT 2015 - International Centre, Telford, United Kingdom Duration: 8 Sept 2015 → 10 Sept 2015 |
Conference
| Conference | 54th Annual British Conference of Non-Destructive Testing, NDT 2015 |
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| Country/Territory | United Kingdom |
| City | Telford |
| Period | 8/09/15 → 10/09/15 |
Keywords
- Eddy current testing
- fuel cladding
- irradiated fuels
- nondestructive examination
- artificial defects