The aim of the joint project Bero is to develop a demonstrator system for pipelines in the installation position, which can carry out sampling as required according to a quality-assured sampling procedure and provide the removed sample material, as far as possible, without loss. In principle, sampling should be feasible at any point in the pipelines, i.e. along their length and circumference. For this sampling, it should be investigated which removal method is most suitable (e.g. milling, turning, tapping, etc.) and how a defined material removal can be achieved. When finding a concept, structural risks such as plastic quality, possible ovality or eccentricity must be taken into account. It must be ensured that the same defined specimen area or material thickness is removed in the cross-section and that not too much material is removed at oval points of the pipe. Contact with the surrounding concrete structure should not be created. The primary objective is to leave the sampled pipes in the installed position if it can be demonstrated that the release criteria for the sampled pipes are met. However, since this procedure cannot be applied across the board to all plants in Germany, technologies for efficient removal without removing the concrete cover are also being evaluated in addition to sampling and release in the installed position and included in the demonstrator concept in order to subsequently carry out the release process on the building structure with the pipe removed.

The project is being carried out by IBASS GmbH & Co. KG in association with the Institute for Technology and Management in Construction (TMB) of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), with RWE Nuclear GmbH and PreussenElektra GmbH acting as cost-neutral consultants.