ENIQ International Activities on Risk Informed In-Service-Inspection

SUMMARY The European Network for Inspection and Qualification (ENIQ) is a utility driven network that works towards a harmonized European approach on reliable and effective in-service inspection (ISI). In particular, ENIQ task groups work on issues related to the qualification of ISI systems (task group on qualification, TGQ) and to risk-informed in-service inspection (RI-ISI) (task groups on risk, TGR). After achieving a major milestone with the publication of the European Framework Document on RI-ISI in 2005, ENIQ TGR has been recently working at producing more detailed recommended practices and discussion documents on several RI-ISI related issues, such as defence-in-depth, guidance for expert panels, verification and validation of structural reliability models and RI-ISI application to pressure vessels and internals. Another important activity initiated within ENIQ TGR and currently under development is a project aimed at linking Inspection qualification and RI-ISI, to investigate and demonstrate an approach able to provide some quantitative measure of the confidence derived from inspection qualification, and to allow risk reduction associated with a qualified inspection to be calculated. Finally, TGR initiated in January 2006 a project together with the European Commission's Joint Research Centre and Nuclear Energy Agency of the OECD aimed at benchmarking RI-ISI methodologies (RISMET project). Several international organisations, utilities and regulators are participating in this project, which should reach a conclusion towards the end of 2007. The aim of this paper is to review and explain these activities of ENIQ TGR.