Conveners
05 Nuclear Power Reactors Monitoring and Control
- Jing JIANG (Western University (Canada))
- Gilles BIGNAN (CEA, France)
05 Nuclear Power Reactors Monitoring and Control
- Ludo VERMEEREN (SCK CEN, Belgium)
- Takeshi OHSHIMA (National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology)
05 Nuclear Power Reactors Monitoring and Control: Parallel Intensive Oral Sessions
- Yves PONTILLON (CEA, DES, IRESNE, DEC/SA3E)
- Jean-yves FERRANDIS (IES, Univ Montpellier / CNRS, UMR 5214, F-34000, Montpellier, France)
Description
Oral Session
The Tube Support Plate blockage, also named clogging, is a complex phenomenon that can occur in the steam generator of Pressurized Water Reactors. This deposit mainly composed of iron oxides, may induce several consequences (thermohydraulic flows changes inside SGs, vibrational or oscillatory risks, mechanical resistance of SG tubes and internals, impact on water inventory …). . Since 2014,...
In this paper, it is shown how numerical simulations can help designing an ultrasonic instrument operating in harsh conditions. To prevent fuel handling errors in sodium cooled fast reactors, the identification of fuel subassemblies using ultrasound is being investigated. It is based on the interpretation of a code (aligned notches) engraved on the subassembly head using an emitting/receiving...
The Laboratory for Reactor Physics and Systems Behavior (LRS) of the école Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) has in recent years been involved with the European CORTEX project, which aims to characterize reactor perturbations such as local bubbling, mechanical vibrations, etc. by neutron flux measurements. The goal of the LRS is the preparation and execution of experiments and...
The MADERE platform (Measurement Applied to DosimEtry for REactors) is a metrology facility whose main purpose is to determine the specific activity of solid-state dosimeters irradiated in nuclear reactors, using γ- and X-ray spectrometry. The platform is accredited by the French accreditation Committee (COFRAC) for specific activity measurement of γ- and X-ray emitters.
Analysis methods used...
Technological platforms dedicated for digital instrumentation and control of nuclear reactors are quite complex in terms of functionalities and devices. Hence, the design of these platforms requires high-level abstraction layers able to reduce the complexity, to rise the automation and to check the consistency between different development stages. The development of such systems is a...
To keep the dependability of Sodium Cooled Fast Reactor, the ‘‘clean sodium concept’’ is demanded, which means that the sodium is free from contamination. The release of fission products is searched for by a contamination measuring system. We need to have a comprehensive description of cladding failures and the detection of contamination, including the failure occurrence on the fuel pin, the...
Fission chamber technology has been identified as the most suitable method for neutron detection to be used in the vessel of a sodium fast reactor and may possibly also be used for neutron diagnostics in fusion power (ITER, DEMO). This type of detector, namely High Temperature Fission Chamber (HTFC), must be able to operate under high irradiation of up to 10^10 n/cm².s, must have high...
Nowadays, the optical fiber sensors (OFSs) have attracted the interest not only of researchers but also of industries, for their applications in harsh environments characterized by high temperatures and/or radiations. The Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) based technology is one of the most widely studied under radiation [1]. Even today it presents qualities unbeatable by other OFSs, such as its high...
In 2012 the US Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) initiated the Advanced Sensors and Instrumentation (ASI) program as part of the Nuclear Energy Enabling Technologies (NEET) research as part of crosscutting RD&D activities to advance the state of nuclear technology, improve its competitiveness, and promote continued contribution to meet the nation’s energy and environmental...
The core instrumentation of the EPR reactors consist of 12 exchangeable instrumentations, each with 6 fixed cobalt-self-powered neutron detectors and 3 type k thermocouples for core exit temperature, 40 measuring fingers of the aeroball measuring system using moveable steel ball stacks with vanadium as probes, as well as 4 level and dome temperature measurement probes. The exchangeable...
Several concepts of new reactors use graphite. Some of them use graphite as a moderator, some of them as a reflector. There are at least two concepts of these graphite-type reactors under development in Czech Republic – the Energy Well and the Teplator. Both reactors use graphite as the reflector. An in-core measurement might be impossible to use due to various reasons, for instance high...
An influence evaluation by background radiation on a silicon detector, which will be used to detect a coolant leakage, and be installed in a containment building of a nuclear power plant, was performed and the result was discussed. The detector that consists of a silicon sensor and preamplifier mounted in a shielding structure which composed of a 5 cm lead cylinder will be installed in an...
