Digital Radiography

This technique does away with the need to develop the argentic films and significantly shortens the duration of inspections. The probe developed by Intercontrôle reduces the exposure time by a factor of 10. It can be used with all types of radioactive sources, from low-intensity X-ray sources to linear accelerators.

ntercontrôle’s teams have received the Technological Innovation Prize awarded by the SFEN (French Nuclear Energy Society) for the “Digital RT for in-site inspections” project.

Each year, the SFEN prizes reward work, studies, or other contributions dealing with nuclear energy, its industrial applications and safety. These prizes are divided into six categories, including the one for technological innovation, which rewards a team with an innovative project that has already been implemented.

The SFEN awards ceremony took place on June 24 at the “Institut de France” in Paris. The prize was awarded to the Intercontrôle project team, consisting of project manager Angela Peterzol-Parmentier, assisted by Olga Joulie, Pascal Brun, Yann Kernin and François Dubos.

The “digital RT for in-site inspections” project is an innovative digital radiography solution as an alternative to conventional radiography.

This solution, the result of collaboration between intercontrôle and the Swedish company Direct Conversion, uses a Photon counting detector to replace argentic film. This improves the reliability and efficiency of the inspection process by reducing dosimetry, improving the traceability of inspections and reducing inspection times.

Initially, the project will be used in the nuclear industry for the non-destructive examination of thick parts.

The first on-site tests, dedicated to the inspection of reactor pressure vessel Bimetallic safe-ends welds, have been very promising. Future developments include the industrialization and motorization of the system as well as 3D data processing.