Nuclear engineering and services

Onet Technologies develops a 100% automatic AI-assisted welding process

As part of its R&D program, Onet Technologies has been developing an Artificial Intelligence-driven self-adaptive orbital welding process with real-time quality control since 2022. This innovative project, supported by the France Relance plan and the PACA region, aims to revolutionize the most demanding worksites.

Today, Onet Technologies is working on the industrialization of this process, designed to help operators make welded joints in thick-walled piping. It helps improve the quality of high-stakes projects, and ensures impeccable traceability.

Innovation to enhance the performance of nuclear projects:

Enhanced performance on the most demanding sites
An increase in the First Strike Bond (FSB)
Improved reliability thanks to traceability and data backup

This new process is primarily designed for thick-walled pipe welds, where an extremely high compliance rate and impeccable traceability are required to improve the 'Right First Time' rate. It also provides greater reliability thanks to traceability and data backup.

Brice Massazza, Technical Director, Onet Technologies

The aim is to enable one operator to monitor several AI-controlled welds, thereby boosting performance and reliability on construction sites.

Jérémie Valois, Design Architect at Onet Technologies

It begins by capturing images via cameras positioned at the front and rear of the torch. These images are then processed by the artificial intelligence module to make logical decisions to modify the welding parameters. The final step is to send these commands directly to the robot.

Jules Robin, Welding engineer at Onet technologies

Currently in the industrialization phase, the process, its concept and operation have already been validated. The aim now is to move towards a system qualification process, prior to industrial deployment. Onet Technologies' R&D project team continues to train the AI model to make it more robust and responsive to unforeseen situations.

Take a video tour of our 100% automatic AI-assisted welding process, and meet some of the #TeamOT team who developed it!

Next steps in the project

The next steps in the AI-assisted welding project include several key phases to ensure its success and industrial deployment:

Finalization of industrialization: The process is currently in the industrialization phase. The aim is to finalize this phase by the end of the year, to make it operational on existing plants and for new nuclear power projects.
Operator training: Onet Technologies plans to train its operators in the use of this new process. This includes practical and theoretical training to ensure complete mastery of the technology.
Continuous improvement: Onet Technologies will continue to train the AI model to make it more robust and responsive to unforeseen situations. Regular updates will be made to improve process performance.

Onet Technologies, welding experience on the most complex sites

At the end of 2021, during a ten-yearly inspection, EDF identified microcracks due to stress corrosion cracking (SCC) on the Civaux 1 nuclear reactor. This defect has also been detected on other reactors in the French fleet, on the lines of the safety injection circuit (RIS) and on the cooling circuit of the shutdown reactor (RRA).

For the past 3 years, Onet Technologies teams have been working on solutions for these unprecedented projects.

In a record time of 6 months, the teams drew up the intervention scenarios, supported by studies and calculations, drafted the technical documentation, qualified the machines and trained the welders for these interventions.

Engineers, pipe fitters, welders, logisticians... around thirty Onet Technologies people take turns on each site after rigorous training at our Reactor Center of Excellence in Marseille.

Our teams have worked alongside those of EDF on the RIS and RRA lines of the Civaux 1, Civaux 2, Chooz B2, Golfech 1, Golfech 2, Nogent 2, Belleville 1, Nogent 1 and Penly 2 reactors.

Onet Technologies is now qualified to support EDF in its Stress Corrosion program on the Pressurizer Expansion Line (LEP).