Nuclear Energy

Further improving nuclear power plant operation

Laborelec’s Nuclear Research Program strives towards operational excellence and performance optimization in the field of nuclear energy generation. The research program is established in collaboration with the Doel and Tihange Nuclear Power Plants in order to optimally meet their demands. Research projects are carried out with multiple Laborelec departments as well as with external research centres.

Cross-department research

Our experts research all facets of nuclear power plant operation:

• Process performance and automation: developing process control expertise and alarm management methodologies, validating new instrumentation and control equipment or software, optimizing nuclear power plant efficiency, ...
• Water chemistry: avoiding corrosion issues in all water circuits, researching ways of reducing steam generator fouling, researching ways of reducing dose rates, ...
• Materials technology: assessing material corrosion and integrity in nuclear power plants, evaluating technologies to assess material degradation rates, ...
• Condition assessment and monitoring: identifying methods to further improve monitoring and diagnosis, ...

Research areas are defined based on plant issues encountered in the field and on assessments of available technologies. If no satisfactory technology exists, Laborelec examines the in-house development of solutions.

Active involvement in other research topics

Laborelec works on a number of nuclear research projects, in-house as well as with partners such as the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre (SCK/CEN) and the French Commissariat à l’Énergie Atomique (CEA). In this respect, Laborelec focuses on:

• Investigating the lifetime extension of existing nuclear plants
• Managing ageing cables in nuclear power plants
• Improving water chemistry in nuclear power plants

Contact

For more information, contact us.