Development of an Integrated Reactor UT Inspection System

Reactor vessel is one of the most important equipment of Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) with regard to the nuclear safety. Thus reactor vessel must be examined periodically by certified experts. Currently, ultra-sonic(UT) non-destructive inspection is executed on reactor vessel. Two different techniques are used in this inspection. One is using the movable manipulator fixed with the support-guide placed on the vessel, and the other is using mobile robot moving in the vessel. Movable manipulator machine is very heavy, hard to handle, and very expensive. Mobile robot equipment is small and convenient but has a weak point on positional precision. To solve these problems we developed a reactor inspection system based on laser-driven mobile robot. This paper describes the main concept and structure of integrated inspection units and the feature of implemented units.