Collaboration
The IRSN is investing in the national Centre for Industrial Risk
26/06/2008
A research partnership convention was signed at the end of April this year between eight scientific organizations, including the IRSN, that have complementary skills in the field of industrial risk control. The objective of this convention is to structure research and technology transfer within the French National Centre for Industrial Risk (PNRI), an institution created by the French government in 1998 at Bourges. The steering of research and technology transfer projects was entrusted to the Bourges Higher National School of Engineering (ENSIB).
The convention will allow a reinforcement of this technological centre, which is dedicated to technological risk control, by encouraging the emergence of joint projects with the various partners. At the same time, the PNRI will enable a pooling of knowledge for the benefit of companies, in various fields including explosions, hydrogen, systems monitoring and reliability, and, finally, crisis management. The IRSN will become involved more specifically in the field of physical phenomena associated with the propagation of waves following an explosion and their interactions with infrastructures.
In addition to the ENSIB and the IRSN, the following organizations are associated with the research convention: the Poitiers Higher National School of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering (ENSMA), the University of Poitiers, the University of Orleans, the Atomic Energy Commissariat (CEA) – Le Ripault (CEA/Le Ripault), the technical Establishment of Bourges – centre for testing and expertise of the French armament procurement agency (ETBS/DGA) and the French National Institute for the Industrial Environment and Risks (INERIS).
contact the IRSN:
Jérôme Hocquet
Non-destructive testing
Cooperation agreement signed between IRSN and NRC
20/10/2008
IRSN and the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (US NRC) signed a cooperation agreement in late June 2008 concerning research on non-destructive testing. The research started in June 2008 and will last four years. The objective is to improve ultrasonic inspection of the course-grain austenitic-ferritic materials used in the main pipes of certain nuclear facilities.
The agreement aims to develop simulation tools that take into account the course-grain metal structure of the components. It also aims to develop a classification method for metal structure involving specific in situ ultrasonic measurement. These developments will open the way to using multi-element ultrasonic transducers, comprising multiple, independent piezoelectric elements activated separately. The activation of each element will take into account both the tested component's geometric conditions and data specific to the metal structure, thereby optimising in real time the acoustic beam in the tested material.
In addition to IRSN and NRC, CEA LIST (Laboratory for Systems and Technology Integration) in France and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in the US will also take part in the research.
description of SAMS (Equipment and Structure Analysis Department), the IRSN unit involved in the agreement
NRC web site
IRSN contact:
Gérard Cattiaux
