Detection of Flux Perturbations in Pebble Bed HTGRs by Near Core Instrumentation

摘要

For pebble bed reactors an incore monitoring system cannot be utilized during normal operation, mainly for two reasons: (1) The necessary instrumentation cannot withstand possible coolant gas temperatures of up to 1150 exp 0 C; (2) The detector guide structures cannot withstand the continuous downward movement of the fuel elements in the core and would perturb the loading scheme. Therefore a near-core detector system is necessary which can be used to monitor the power distribution and to recognise perturbations in the neutron flux distribution. This helps guarantee that temperature limits in the core (fuel elements, absorber rods) and in the heat removal systems (steam generators) will not be exceeded. For this purpose an instrumentation system of the following kind is planned (and at least for a prototype reactor no part of it should be omitted): 1) Fast fission chambers in the top reflector for measuring the fast neutron flux distribution; 2) Self powered neutron detectors (SPNDs) in the radial reflector for thermal flux mapping; (3) Thermocouples in the bottom reflector for measuring the profile of the outlet gas temperature. (Atomindex citation 14:758827)