Assessment of Sensor Technologies for Advanced Reactors

Korsah, K.; Ramuhalli, Pradeep; Vlim, R.; Kisner, R.A.; Britton, C.L.; Wootan, D.W.; Anheier, Norman C.; Diaz, Aaron A.; Hirt, Evelyn H.; Chien, Hual‐Te; Sheen, S.H.; Bakhtiari, Sasan; Gopalsami, S.; Heifetz, Alexander; Tam, S.W.; Park, Y.; Upadhyaya, B.R.; Stanford, A E

doi:10.2172/1345781

Cited by 21 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Several existing sensor technologies are likely to be applicable, meeting the requirements for instrumenting most currently proposed microreactor concepts. These technologies include thermometers, flow meters, strain sensors, neutron and gamma sensors, and heat flux sensors based on a variety of measurement physics, 24 though several of these technologies remain at a lower technology readiness level and need further development and testing. Their applicability for embedded sensing also remains to be assessed.…”

Section: Sensors and Instrumentationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Concepts for Autonomous Operation of Microreactors

Ramuhalli

Çetiner

2019

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Microreactor concepts have seen increasing interest in recent years given their potential use for meeting energy needs in remote and grid-isolated communities. Because of the small power outputs of microreactors and the potential for remote siting, there is a need to significantly reduce operational staffing levels to improve their economic viability. Autonomous control capabilities emerge as a key enabling technology. Autonomous control should not be perceived as a single feature that when added delivers certain functions. On the contrary, autonomous control capability is a highly complex systems engineering process that requires detailed understanding of system dynamic response as a function of operational actions. These advanced capabilities can be achieved at different levels of autonomy, which would then require different levels of human operator involvement in operational decision making. The division of functions and responsibilities between the human operator and the automatic system is the starting point in the system engineering life cycle process. Once this division of functions and responsibilities is established, several options exist for autonomous control ranging from simple automation of some procedures to fully autonomous operational mode with automatic decision-making and execution without the involvement of a human operator. A critical aspect of autonomous decision-making is the ability to have as complete an awareness of the system state as possible. In addition to monitoring the conventional process data, such as temperatures, pressures, flow, and neutron flux, measurements pertaining to the condition of important components become as important as the operational data. This type of information will allow the autonomous control system to adapt its internal configuration to changing conditions of structures, systems and components of importance through the decision-making process. The key capability is to execute these advanced functions with minimal operational disturbance and, of course, without compromising the public health and safety. Several technical and regulatory advances are needed before widespread use of autonomous control in microreactors. These include sensor and instrumentation technologies that are capable of long-term unattended operation in harsh environments, technologies for inferring the state of the microreactor system or subsystems with confidence, algorithms for predictive decision-making that account for the assessed condition of the microreactor subsystems as well as the potential impact on those components of any operational decisions, and actuators and control system hardware that are resilient in harsh environments. In addition, given the need to remotely monitor the operations, cybersecurity requirements will likely need to be imposed to ensure secure operations.

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Section: Sensors and Instrumentationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Concepts for Autonomous Operation of Microreactors

Ramuhalli

Çetiner

2019

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“…Accelerometers can be used to detect vibration or looseness in parts such as pipe connections [8]. Moisture sensors (to detect steam leaks) and strain gages have also been reported [9]. The report [8] consider the viability of a range of sensor technologies for recent reactor designs.…”

Section: Prior Instrumentation Work Relevant To Monitoring the Non-numentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Laser Doppler vibrometry is a candidate for deflection measurements, if the coolant is transparent and the sensor can be isolated from base vibrations. A conventional temperature measurement [9] uses thermocouples up to 1300 °C (or resistance temperature detectors [11]) and strain gages to monitor reactor conditions. Another temperature sensing method is Johnson noise, based on the statistical fluctuations of electrical fields which depends solely on absolute temperature.…”

Section: Prior Instrumentation Work Relevant To Monitoring the Non-numentioning

confidence: 99%

Micro Reactor Instrumentation and Control FY2019 Report

Mascareñas

Meyerhofer

Ezell

et al. 2019

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Micro-reactors (i.e., very small transportable or mobile nuclear reactors with a capacity less than 20 MWt) are being developed to supply heat and power for various applications in remote areas, military installations, emergency operations, humanitarian missions, and disaster relief zones. A wide variety of reactor types are under consideration, including sodium-cooled fast reactors, molten salt reactors, light water reactors, very-high-temperature gas reactors, and heat pipe reactors. These miniaturized transportable reactor designs remain largely untested and unproven. System and component testing are needed to demonstrate design safety and system robustness, reliability and efficiency. 2. Concept of Operations for Instrumentation for the non-nuclear micro-reactor test bed.

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“…High-temperature fluid reactors, such as sodium fast reactors (SFR) and molten salt cooled reactors (MSCR) are a promising advanced reactor option with highly efficient thermal energy conversion cycle [1][2][3]. Streamlining commercialization of advanced reactors involves development of new coolant sensing technologies for enhancing performance efficiency [4,5]. Measurement of high-temperature fluid process variables, in particular the flow inside the pressure vessel, is a challenging task because of harsh environments of advanced reactors, which includes radiation, high temperature, and contact with highly corrosive coolant fluid.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Measurement of high-temperature fluid process variables, in particular the flow inside the pressure vessel, is a challenging task because of harsh environments of advanced reactors, which includes radiation, high temperature, and contact with highly corrosive coolant fluid. Liquid metal flow sensors are typically of magnetic, Venturi and ultrasonic types [4,5], while molten salt flow sensors are ultrasonic [6]. Magnetic flow meters, which consist of high temperature permanent magnets (PM) and flux measurement coil (saddle coil), measure the rate of conducting flux passing through coil cross-section.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%