Principles of Determining Damage to the Fuel Elements of Fast Power Reactors by Monitoring Sodium and Gas Activity

摘要

This paper states the main requirements which have to be met by systems for determining damage to the fuel elements of fast power reactors by delayed neutrons, gas activity, and sodium coolant activity monitoring. The influence of reactor layout, detector geometry, neutron background, and gamma background on the sensitivity of such systems is examined. The paper contains theoretical data on the magnitude of the effective signal resulting from damage to fuel elements in the BN-350 and BN-600 reactors and experimental data relating to the use of such systems in determining fuel element damage during operation in the BR-5 reactor. (ERA citation 03:052609)