The Idaho Chemical Processing Plant (ICPP) has several large, temporary-liquid-storage tanks (50 feet diameter and 30 feet height). The tanks are located in separate underground cells as shown in Figure 1.Because of the huge tank storage capacity per inch (1225 gallons), extremely accurate liquid depth measurement is required to observe normal additions (or to become aware of other than large leaks). In roughly 1970 Glenn Booman, then the leader of the advanced instrumentation group of ICPP, began a program to develop what in a few years became known as ''IRF tank probes.'' The initial probe was installed in tank WM-189 in 1975 and ten more were installed in other tanks in 1976. Though the RF components were fairly costly at that time, they were readily available and the system has, in general, operated without incident. Three of the most desirable features of the system not found in most other continuous reading level systems are that it exhibits no hysteresis, no creep and requires no calibration. In the years since installation the RF distribution system has been upgraded and the method of data processing has been changed somewhat. Presently, the need for more probes for more tanks has re-newed interest. The original development work was never fully documented. The present talk is taken from a report being written to comprehensively describe the theory and operation of the rf probe.
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