How do you inspect components under metres of opaque molten lead?

Dr Jonathan Hawes of UKNNL gives a talk presenting the development of an innovative Under Lead Viewing (ULV) system that uses ultrasound to “see” inside Lead Fast Reactors.

Date: Thursday 29th October

Time: 17:30 arrival, 18:00 – 19:30

Cost: Free

Venue: Ridgeway House, Fermi Avenue, Harwell Campus, OX11 0QX

Registration deadline: Thursday 29th October at 16:30

Developed through a collaboration between UKNNL and Westinghouse, the work addresses one of the key operational challenges for lead-cooled reactor technology: reliable inspection and object detection in a harsh, high-temperature liquid metal environment.

The presentation will highlight the breakthrough solution to achieving ultrasonic coupling in molten lead, including novel surface engineering approaches to overcome wetting challenges, and demonstrate successful signal transmission, object detection and imaging at reactor-relevant temperatures.

Attendees will gain insight into the acoustic behaviour of molten lead, the practical limits of ultrasonic inspection, and how this technology could support future reactor maintenance, outage inspections and recovery of loose parts, helping to enable the safe and efficient deployment of next-generation Lead Fast Reactors.

Registration deadline: Thursday 29th October at 16:30