The project, carried out during October 2019, was commissioned by EDF as a solution to the erosion and corrosion of drain nozzles in two MSRs at the Belleville Nuclear Power Plant (France).

It is the fourth intervention of this type that we have undertaken for EDF in France (Bugey, Nogent, Dampierre and Belleville). It demonstrates GDES client’s confidence in us and in the quality of the service, which contributes to long-term operations and to the preventive maintenance of their plants.

Metallisation of the drain nozzles in the MSRs has provided them with a protective layer to slow down the natural erosion and corrosion processes of this type of equipment, which works under pressure. The work was carried out by GDES during the refuelling outage of Unit 2 of the Belleville Nuclear Power Plant.

Having marked out and contained the area to be treated, a Sponge-Jet surface preparation was carried out, followed by manual application of the protective coating (metallisation). A significant human and technical challenge for our client and for team due to the limited space for manoeuvre. The method applied avoided further corrosion and the costly unscheduled stoppage of the MSR for repair work that had become inevitable due to wall thinning.