COLLABORATION PLAN FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF DIAGNOSTICS AND PROGNOSTICS, AND SELF-POWERED SENSING TECHNIQUES FOR SUSTAINABILITY OF NUCLEAR POWER PLANT SAFETY CRITICAL FUNCTIONS

摘要

Since the accident at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Station, attention has been given to accident mitigation during possible beyond design-basis accidents. This safety issue is elaborated in the July 2011 US NRC report, Near-Term Task Force Review of Insights from the Fukushima Dai-ichi Accident. The report highlighted the need for monitoring core and coolant system conditions, and the ability to communicate sensor measurements and other information during a severe accident condition. The use and upgrading of the Emergency Response Data System (ERDS) was strongly recommended by the NRC. The objective of this collaborative INERI (International Nuclear Energy Research Initiative) project is to develop and demonstrate advanced technologies for condition monitoring, diagnosis, remote sensing, sensor network design, and safety actuation during beyond design-basis events in operating nuclear plants and next generation reactors. Even though prognosis during an accident situation is not a feasible activity, prognosis or estimation of impending changes in the performance of safety-related equipment is of high importance. The project focuses on the implementation of a variety of monitoring methods using low-frequency and wide-band data, development of self-powered sensors, sensor network strategy, data communication, and control. The collaborative activity plans to integrate monitoring and diagnostics methods developed by the international team of Korean and US collaborators and demonstrate the techniques and measurement strategies for three selected safety-related equipment. Dynamic simulation of the operation of a typical nuclear plant will be used to generate data needed for validation of the proposed technical approach. Sensor development and demonstration are proposed to be performed at the KAERI facilities in Daejeon, Korea. In order to achieve a high level of success, the project participants plan to collaborate with U.S. national laboratories and nuclear power service industry.