Studies, construction and installation of nine JHR pools

The Jules Horowitz Reactor (JHR) at the Cadarache site is an experimental reactor for researching the behaviour of fuels and materials for nuclear power plants, and the production of radioelements for nuclear medicine.

CEA Cadarache entrusted Cegelec CEM with the design, construction and installation of nine nuclear pools and the associated equipment, notably:

• Liners for nine pools in the reactor and auxiliary buildings (tubular structure, liner sheets, second-phase concrete, fittings, etc.), which required:
  • Development of an all-position automatic machine for site welding 
  • Qualification and compliance with RCC-MX code criteria
  • Development of ultrasonic testing on thin stainless-steel measuring 3.4 and 6 mm
• Underwater transfer airlock with two doors
• Seven sluice gates
• 29 reactor pool penetrations, some of which with N1 ESPN pressure classification