Automated in-core image generation from video to aid visual inspection of nuclear power plant cores

This paper introduces a novel technique for creating full 360° panoramic images of the inside surface of fuel channels from in-core inspection footage. Through the development of this technique, a number of technical challenges associated with the constraints of using existing equipment have been addressed. These include: the inability to calibrate the camera specifically for image stitching; dealing with additional data not relevant to the panorama construction; dealing with noisy images; and generalising the approach to work with two different capture devices deployed at seven different Advanced Gas Cooled Reactor nuclear power plants. The resulting data processing system is currently under formal assessment with a view to replacing the existing manual assembly of in-core defect montages. Deployment of the system will result in significant time savings on the critical outage path for the plant operator and will allow improved visualization of the surface of the inside of fuel channels, far beyond that which can be gained from manually analysing the raw video footage as is done at present.