Advanced Cutting Experiences for a Nuclear Power Plant Application

The maintenance and repair services in nuclear power plants are characterized by a critical operating environment. In this paper, the technical requirements and quality guarantee applicable to a cutting equipment designed for a special nuclear power plant application are defined. The real practical case operation is to cut fuel alignment pins. Three techniques are evaluated to perform the underwater operation: traditional machining by means of an abrasive cutting wheel, metal disintegration machining (MDM) and electrical discharge machining (EDM). The qualification procedure of the alignment pin removal tools and the resulting cuts are reported.