THE ROLE OF NONDESTRUCTIVE TESTING IN THE CONTROL OF BOILER TUBE FAILURES

PowerGen is a UK electricity generating company which operates some 16 GW of plant burning coal, oil, orimulsion and gas. The scientific and technical support necessary to maintain the efficient, cost-effective operation of these stations is provided from the Power Technology Cen tre,, based near Nottingham. The Centre has been partially active in t he field of boiler tube failure control; developing an unrivalled expe rtise through a highly interactive approach with stations over many ye ars. Fundamental understanding of tube failures has been further enhan ced through the development of a tube failure database in the early 19 70s, one of the first to be established worldwide. This has also encou raged a proactive approach to the problem through the early identifica tion of emerging generic problems, whether associated with design, ope ration or maintenance policy, allowing optimum replacement strategies to be defined. This paper seeks to highlight the integral role of NDT in formulating structured maintenance strategies to achieve reductions in boiler tube failures.