• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.13-19
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• 2015

Steam generator is one of the most important component of nuclear power plant, and it's integrity and reliability are to be assured to high level by pre-service inspection and in-service inspection. To improve the reliability of steam generator heat exchanger tubes and to secure the management of nuclear power plant safely, KHNP CRI recently has developed eddy current testing system for steam generator. KHNP CRI have performed a series of experimental verification and field application to confirm the performance of the developed ECT system in accordance with ASME Code requirements. The ECT system consists of a remote data acquisition unit, an ECT signal acquisition and analysis software, a water chamber robot controller and a probe push-puller. In this paper, we will details of the developed ECT system and the software and their experimental performance. And also we will report the field applying performance and the issues for further steps.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.90-98
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• 2006

Signals captured from a Combo calibration standard tube paly a crucial role in the evaluation of motorized rotating pancake coil (MRPC) probe signals from steam generator (SG) tubes in nuclear power plants (NPPs). Therefore, the Combo tube signals should be consistent and accurate. However, MRPC probe signals are very easily affected by various factors around the tubes so that they can be distorted in their amplitudes and phase angles which are the values specifically used in the evaluation. To overcome this problem, in this study, we explored possibility of simulation to be used as a practical calibration tool far the evaluation of real field signals. For this purpose, we investigated the characteristics of a MRPC probe and a Combo tube. And then using commercial software (VIC-3D) we simulated a set of calibration signals and compared to the experimental signals. From this comparison, we verified the accuracy of the simulated signals. Finally, we evaluated two defects using the simulated Combo tube signals, and the results were compared with those obtained using the actual field calibration signals.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.13-19
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• 2010

In this paper, we study a new estimation system for the prediction of steam generator tube defects. In the previous research works, defect size estimators were independently designed for each defect types in order to estimate the defect size. As a result, the structure of estimation system is rather complex and the estimation performance gets worse if the classification performance is degraded for some reason. This paper studies a new estimation system that does not require the classification of defect types. Although the previous works are expected to achieve much better estimation performance than the proposed system since it uses the estimator specialized in each defect, the performance difference is not so large. Therefore, it is expected that the proposed estimator can be effectively used for the case where the defect type classification is imperfect.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.302-310
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• 2010

In this paper, we studied Bagging neural network for predicting defect size of steam generator(SG) tube in nuclear power plant. Bagging is a method for creating an ensemble of estimator based on bootstrap sampling. For predicting defect size of SG tube, we first generated eddy current testing signals for 4 defect patterns of SG tube with various widths and depths. Then, we constructed single neural network(SNN) and Bagging neural network(BNN) to estimate width and depth of each defect. The estimation performance of SNN and BNN were measured by means of peak error. According to our experiment result, average peak error of SNN and BNN for estimating defect depth were 0.117 and 0.089mm, respectively. Also, in the case of estimating defect width, average peak error of SNN and BNN were 0.494 and 0.306mm, respectively. This shows that the estimation performance of BNN is superior to that of SNN.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.288-294
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• 2016

This paper aims to compare the ability to detect notch defects existing in the plate and welded area using a flexible ECA (eddy current array) probe with OmniScan MX and MS-5800E. The characteristics of signals with various frequencies and lift-offs were also compared. As a result, when signals of frequencies 500, 1000, and 1500 kHz were used, the amplitude of the signal increased, as the depth of the notch increased, but reduced linearly in accordance with the lift-off variation. In addition, the detection sensitivity of the weld defect was found to be closely related to the contact surface of the probe and specimen. In this paper, it was demonstrated that the detection sensitivity was excellent when the contact surface of the probe and the specimen was sufficient, but it was poor when the contact surface was insufficient.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.57-63
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• 2004

As a part of In-service Inspection works in a nuclear power plant, Eddy Current Testing through all the outage of nuclear power plants has been controlled by the radiation management. From the case study about the periodical ECT work, the exposed dose rate of worker has announced over the organized dose rate before the radiation work, it affects the personnel exposed dose management and radiation work permit issue. It is not easy to get some information about ECT related working hours, scope of work and how many workers to forecast the radiation working and the predict dose exposure. It should be need the data accumulation about ECT related radiation work to prepare the ALARA achievement and the radiation work plan for dose mitigation. We can discuss a few information about ECT related radiation working issue for the application of predict dose exposure on this paper.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.9-15
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• 2008

A new ECT probe to separate the ECT signal distortion due to PVC (permeability variation clusters) and ordinary defects created in SG tubes has been developed. The hystersis loops of PVC which are extracted from retired SG (steam generator) tubes of Kori-1 NNP were measured. The tensile tests were performed to identify the mechanism of PVC creation. The conditions detecting the PVC created in 56 tubes were investigated using computer simulation, and the signal processing circuits were inserted in the probe for the digital signal transmission. The new Probe can measure and separate the PVC signal which is created in the SG tubes, and also measures the defects in Ni-sleeving part of SG tubes. furthermore the new ECT probe can measure the defects as fast as bobbin probe, and enhance the testing speed as well as reliability of the defect detection of SG tubes.