Many critical issues concerning plant life management for operating nuclear power plants are related to materials. Present plans for concurrent lifetime extension, power upgrading, and construction of new plants that may employ new materials in new conditions will require investigating and solving problems related to components and structural integrity. Degradation related to the ageing of structures and components is an important aspect of power plant safety, and ageing management requires activities related to the utilization, inspection, surveillance, testing, examination, and degradation mitigation of materials. This drives the on-going effort to better understand the effects of the reactor environment and operating conditions on the strength and integrity of components and structures. With particular regard to materials that have become activated or contaminated by irradiation-related processes, the ALARA principle requires the utilization of hot cell facilities for conducting mechanical testing, metallography, analytical microscopy, autoclave testing, etc. as well as the associated material handling and specimen fabrication and preparation facilities for those techniques.
VTT has been hosting the national hot cell infrastructure since it was first constructed and equipped in the 1970's. However, the current hot cells are no longer technically up to date and new hot cells are required. VTT is currently in the process of constructing a new building, the VTT Centre for Nuclear Safety. The construction of the building is planned to begin in 2014. The new building is comprised of an office block and a laboratory block, which also includes the new hot cell facilities. A brief description of the layout, requirements and equipment of the new hot cells are described in the contract notice documents.
Whereas a civil engineering company is already handling the building facilities, the specific engineering design and construction of the hot cells will be out-sourced. This call for tenders has been established to select the designer and the manufacturer of the radioactive materials testing hot cells. Hot cells include a suite of hot cells and shielded glove box on the main floor, and cask opening cell in the basement.
The selection of the supplier will be done through the restricted procedure. More detailed description about the object of this tender process can be found from the official contract notice documents. VTT Registry office (e-mail: kirjaamo@vtt.fi) will send the contract notice documents free of charge by e-mail on request.