Deflection Measurements of a Thermally Simulated Nuclear Core using a High-Resolution CCD-Camera

摘要

Space fission systems under consideration for near-term missions all use compact, fast-spectrum reactor cores. Reactor dimensional change with increasing temperature, which affects neutron leakage, is the dominant source of reactivity feedback in these systems. Accurately measuring core dimensional changes during realistic non-nuclear testing is therefore necessary in predicting the system "nuclear" equivalent behavior. This paper discusses one key technique being evaluated for measuring such changes. The proposed technique is to use a Charged Couple Device (CCD) sensor to obtain deformation readings of electrically heated prototypic reactor core geometry. This paper introduces a technique by which a single high spatial resolution CCD camera is used to measure core deformation in Real-Time (RT). Initial system checkout results are presented along with a discussion on how additional cameras could be used to achieve a three-dimensional deformation profile of the core during test.