GDES France has recently secured its first contract to eliminate deposits from the residual heat removal (RHR) system exchangers of the primary circuit cooling system at the BLAYAIS Nuclear Power Plant – Unit 2. The service will be carried out in March 2019.

The goal of this project is to develop and certify a process that will remove iron oxide and silicon fouling from the visible parts of the tube plate. The objective, within the framework of the ten-year inspection of the RHR exchangers, is to obtain a visible surface that enables defects and deterioration, such as corrosion or the appearance of cracks, to be detected without an increase in deposits on the non-visible parts of the plate. This service will be carried out under the control of the Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire (French Nuclear Safety Authority), and it involves a novel contract for EDF, for which companies such as the CMI Group, Framatome or Endel also submitted bids. The inspection of the RHR exchangers is carried out every 10-20 years and an intervention of this type has not previously been required. The service contracted to GDES France will include a qualification phase of the maintenance operation in which the effectiveness, safety and mode of operation of both the process and the tools used will be verified.