UK Sheffield Forgemasters International Ltd (SFIL) announced it has completed manufacturing, research and consultancy work to allow restart of Beznau 1 in Switzerland.
SFIL was contracted by the plant operator, Axpo, to investigate the origin of aluminium oxide inclusions which were detected in the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) of Beznau 1, world’s oldest working reactor.
Beznau was taken offline for two years until confirmed to be safe by the Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate (Ensi). Forgemasters manufactured a large cylindrical forging, identical to the body of the vessel, using techniques employed in the original 1960s manufacture and also acted as engineering and metallurgical consultants, establishing a root cause and delivering reports to support the safety case, enabling the reactor to restart.
Professor Jesus Talamantes-Silva, group design and technology director at Sheffield Forgemasters, said: “This detailed body of work provided both Axpo and Ensi with critical pieces of information, allowing them to assess the current and on-going safety of the RPV.
“Fundamental to the project was the recreation of the ultrasonic indications in the full-scale replica; this was only possible by mimicking the original manufacturing route as faithfully as possible.”
The project enabled the Beznau reactor to restart after a very costly two-year hiatus. The unit restarted in March 2018.
A detailed article on the safety analyses carried out on the Beznau 1 RPV will be published in the June edition of Nucelar Engineering International. Subscribe now.
Photo: Professor Jesus Talamantes-Silva, group design and technology director at Sheffield Forgemasters International
