NULIFE Network of excellence Nuclear plant life prediction Rauno Rintamaa and Irina Aho-Mantila VTT, Espoo, Finland Coordinator of NULIFE
NULIFE Background Integration, harmonisation and services were needed NULIFE vision is to create a single organisational structure capable of working at European level to provide harmonised R&D in the area of lifetime evaluation methods for structural components to serve the nuclear power industry and the safety authorities. Time schedule: 10.2006-9.2011, 5 years Total budget: 8.4 million euro EC funding: 5 million euro 3 September 2007 Aho-Mantila Rintamaa 2
Towards Beyond 5 years NULIFE Institute with customer-driven programme Major milestones 24 months 12 months 36 months 60 months 48 months Consolidation of integration plan Preparation of business plan Integration plan Transition plan for permanent entity Creation of Virtual Institute Structure with permanent entity features Joint use of facilities Investment policy Launching of new RTD projects Development and application of procedures and best practices Business plan, Updated structure Links with national programmes Approaches to training, knowledge and comm. Viable expert groups Coherent structure Communication methods Permanent management structure Long term business plan Acknowledged solution provider Past Networking activities Key integration indicators 3 September 2007 Aho-Mantila Rintamaa 3
Contractual structure Contract EU/EC Consortium Agreement VTT SCK CEN NRI CEA Electricité de France AREVA NP GmbH JRC British Energy Generations Ltd Serco Ltd Forsmark Kraftgrupp AB Collaboration Agreement Collaborators (NN) Associate Agreement Associate Contributors (27) 3 September 2007 Aho-Mantila Rintamaa 4
Decision making bodies NULIFE Governing Board Chair J-P. Hutin EdF Management Contractors, Associate Contributors, Collaborators Expert Groups 1) Materials and materials ageing 2) Integrity assessment 3) Lifetime evaluation 4) Safety, risk information and reliability Executive Group Chair R. Rintamaa VTT Infra Group R&D infra End User Group R&D strategy R&D projects Regulators National and international networks/projects/ organisations 3 September 2007 Aho-Mantila Rintamaa 5
Integrating IA-3 (NRI) Knowledge management IA-5 (JRC) Harmonisation Joint Programme of Activities and Work Packages IA-2 Expert Groups - Materials (SCK CEN) - Integrity (ANP-G) - Lifetime (SERCO) - Safety & risk (FKA) IA-1 (VTT) Mapping of partner RTD expertise IA-4 (CEA) Key facilities IA-7 (VTT) Integration planning IA-6 (VTT) Business plan RA-1 (BE) Road Mapping of RTD priorities RA-2 (EDF) End users priority for new projects Management Activities Coordinator VTT Joint R&D RA-3 (SCK CEN) Stress Corrosion Cracking RA-4 (EDF) Thermal Fatigue SA-1 (VTT) Website and communication platform SA-2 (JRC) Reporting and publications SA-3 (SCK CEN) Education, training and dissemination SA-4 (JRC) Partner projects and networks Spreading SA-5 (CEA) Links to regulators 3 September 2007 Aho-Mantila Rintamaa 6
Associate Contributors Institute of Metal Science - Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Bulgaria AREVA NP SAS France Institut de Radioprotection et de Sureté Nucléaire France Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials Forschungszentrum Dresden Rossendorf e.v Gesellschaft für Anlagen- und Reaktorsicherheit mbh Universität Stuttgart Bay Zoltán Foundation for Applied Research Hungary AEKI Atomic Energy Research Institute Hungary Lithuanian Energy Institute Lithuania Nuclear Research & Consultancy Group The Netherlands Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas Medioambientales y Tecnológicas Spain Institute For Nuclear Research Pitesti Romania Center of Technology and Engineering for Nuclear Projects Romania Vattenfall Research and Development AB Sweden Tecnatom, S.A. Spain Paul Scherrer Institut Switzerland Rolls-Royce Power Engineering PLC UK The University of Manchester UK Josef Stefan Institute Slovenia E.ON Kernkraft GmbH ENEL Produzione S.p.A Italy Oskarshamm KG AB Sweden Studsvik Nuclear AB Sweden Westinghouse 3 September Electric 2007 Sweden AB Aho-Mantila Rintamaa Sweden 7 Siempelkamp Pruef- und Gutachter-GmbH Ringhals AB Sweden
Collaborators Paks Nuclear Power Plant, Hungary Fortum Nuclear Service Ltd., Finland Institute for Nuclear Research and Nuclear Energy of Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, INRNE, Bulgaria Tractebel Engineering, Belgium Inspecta, Sweden Negotiations with Teollisuuden Voima Oy, TVO, Finland 3 September 2007 Aho-Mantila Rintamaa 8
Preliminary identification of research topics Reactor pressure vessel Internals Reactor coolant system Connected lines Steam generators Thermal fatigue (Pilot) X X X Stress corrosion cracking (Pilot) X X X Welds and repairs X X Clad properties and ageing X Safety factors / uncertainties X X X Stress classification X The thermal fatigue study will exploit results from recent international and European projects. The stress corrosion cracking project: an integrated approach on environmental assisted cracking (EAC), together with best practice guidelines on EAC testing. 3 September 2007 Aho-Mantila Rintamaa 9
Research and development planning By providing research excellence and fostering common approaches in plant lifetime prediction, NULIFE will contribute to the Electric Power Utilities decision making in terms of plant operation and investments. Safety Authorities will also benefit from the knowledge in their duties to grant plant licenses for the continued operation of plants. NULIFE will support the development of a European common safety justification framework. The ability of the network to deliver procedures and best practices documents on ageing issues will be an important measure of the network s impact. 3 September 2007 Aho-Mantila Rintamaa 10