Reliable Evaluation of Acceptability of Weld for Final Disposal Based on the Canister Copper Weld Inspection Using Different NDT Methods

Jorma Pitkänen, born 1956, received his MSc in material sciences in 1982 and 1991 technique licentiate in engineering in Teknillinen korkeakoulu, Finland. He joined 1982 VTT's Metals laboratory to carry out projects in ultrasonic and eddy current testing applications. He worked as visiting scientist at BAM in 1987-1988 in the area of ultrasonic testing and 1992–1995 at Fraunhofer Institute IZFP with EMAT applications. From 1995 until December 2005 he worked at VTT's materials structural integrity laboratory. Since then he has been developing NDT methods in Posiva Oy, Finland, which is responsible for management of final disposal of spent nuclear fuel in Finland. Pitkänen has been working in many international NDT co-operation projects and has authored numerous publications on NDT. He was chairman of the NDT subcommittee in NESC3 (NESC = network for evaluation of steel components). He has taken part to inspections in nuclear power plants in Finland and Germany especially in area of ultrasonic testing where main focus is detection and sizing of defects. He is member of the NDT committee of Finnish welding society. He has guided courses of advanced NDT in 1995- 2005 and practical courses of NDT in 2001- 2005 in engineering materials laboratory of Teknillinen korkeakoulu, Finland.

Marija Bertovic, born 1981, obtained her diploma degree in psychology at the University of Rijeka in Croatia in 2006. Since then she has been working at the BAM Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing in Berlin, Germany in division “Radiological Methods” in the area of “Reliability of Non-Destructive Evaluation Systems” as research scientist. In focus of her work are human factors affecting the reliability of NDT inspections. She is a doctoral candidate at the Berlin Institute of Technology (Technische Universität).

Uwe Ewert obtained the diploma degree for physical and theoretical chemistry of the Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany in 1974. He received his PhD for simulation of electron spin resonance spectra in 1979. From 1980-1989 he managed the application laboratory for ESR spectroscopy at the Centre for Scientific Instruments of the Academy of Sciences in Berlin, Germany. Uwe Ewert was visiting fellow at the Baker Laboratory of the Cornell University in USA in 1989–1990. In 2000 he was appointed as director and professor of the division “Non-Destructive testing: radiology” at BAM. He is elected chairman of the German radiology committee of the German society of NDT (DGZfP; since 1997), is member of DGZfP advisory board and is chairman of the subcommission VA (radiation methods for welding) of the International Institute of Welding (IIW; since 2000). He is delegate at several standard committees of ISO, CEN and ASTM. Uwe Ewert received the Berthold award of DGZfP (2005), the Röntgen medal of the city of Remscheid (2009) and the Briggs Award of ASTM-International (2010).

Daniel Kanzler, born 1983, received a degree in industrial engineering and a master degree in electrical engineering from the University of Applied Sciences in Aschaffenburg, Germany. Both theses were done in the area of reliability evaluation of ultrasonic testing methods in cooperation with GE Inspection Technologies in Alzenau, Germany between 2008 and 2009. After joining the BAM in 2009 he has been working in the division of Radiological Methods in the area of “Reliability of Non-Destructive Evaluation Systems”. In 2012 he received a NDT master degree from the German Society of Non-Destructive Testing in the methods radiographic and ultrasonic testing.

Dr. rer. nat. Christina Müller studied physics at the Technical University in Dresden, Germany and finished her PhD in the field of theoretical solid state physics in 1982. After a phase of teaching and research at the university she worked in the practical development of material testing procedures in the electronic industry and with the development of ultrasonic probes for nuclear power plants in the former GDR. In 1988 she started to work with BAM in the division for NDT in the field of signal processing, modeling, and 3D data reconstruction. In international co-operations she developed basic principles for reliability assessment of NDT and is the head of a research group “Reliability of NDT” since 1992 and extended the knowledge to the reliability of demining systems. Her research group developed a modular model investigating all possible influences on the reliability of NDT from the physics and industrial application factors up to the human factor including working psychology. The technical POD (probability of detection) was extended to multi-parameter approaches suited to complex and thick components and especially applied to the NDT processes for canisters for radioactive waste in Scandinavian nuclear waste programs. Dr. Müller initiated and organized the international workshop series “European American Workshop on Reliability of NDT” which took place with international success for four times since 1997. The special value of the workshop is the comprehensive and interdisciplinary approach.