Innovation of Irradiation Equipment at the LVR-15 Nuclear Research Reactor

This paper describes the design and use of a new irradiation facility for the LVR-15 nuclear research reactor. The CHOUCA MT irradiation rig was produced in France according to a design of the ÚJV Group (ÚJV Řež and Research Center Řež). There are six heating sections situated along the rig, each instrumented and controlled by its own thermocouple. The rig’s insulation layers ensure a balanced temperature in irradiated specimens along its entire length. The specimen holder is 55.9 mm in diameter and 320 mm long. The CHOUCA MT rig can be repetitively irradiated in different positions within the reactor core, depending on irradiation condition requirements. The CHOUCA MT rig expands the possibilities of radiation research in the ÚJV Group.

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Confocal chromatic sensor for displacement monitoring in research reactor

EPJ Web of Conferences ◽

10.1051/epjconf/202125304021 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 253 ◽

pp. 04021

Author(s):

Marion Agoyan ◽

Gary Fourneau ◽

Guy Cheymol ◽

Ayoub Ladaci ◽

Hicham Maskrot ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Small Volume ◽

Research Reactor ◽

Reactor Core ◽

Nuclear Research ◽

Displacement Monitoring ◽

Sensor Performance ◽

Fuel Rod ◽

Displacement Thickness ◽

Nuclear Research Reactor ◽

Mitigation Techniques

Confocal chromatic microscopy is an optical technique allowing measuring displacement, thickness, and roughness with a sub-micrometric precision. Its operation principle is based on a wavelength encoding of the object position. Historically, the company STIL based in the south of France has first developed this class of sensors in the 90’s. Of course, this sensor can only operate in a sufficiently transparent medium in the used spectral domain. It presents the advantage of being contactless, which is a crucial advantage for some applications such as the fuel rod displacement measurement in a nuclear research reactor core and in particular for cladding-swelling measurements. The extreme environmental conditions encountered in such experiments i.e. high temperature, high pressure, high radiations flux, strong vibrations, surrounding turbulent flow can affect the performances of this optical system. We then need to implement mitigation techniques to optimize the sensor performance in this specific environment. Another constraint concerns the small volume available in the irradiation rig next to the rod to monitor, implying the challenge to conceive a miniaturized sensor able to operate under these constraints.

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Design of a FPGA-based controller for power and period measurement in the start range of Dalat Nuclear Research Reactor

Nuclear Science and Technology ◽

10.53747/jnst.v10i3.7 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (3) ◽

pp. 41-48

Author(s):

Vo Van Tai ◽

Nguyen Van Kien ◽

Nguyen Nhi Dien ◽

Trinh Dinh Hai ◽

Le Van Diep

Keyword(s):

Neutron Flux ◽

High Speed ◽

Research Reactor ◽

Full Range ◽

Reactor Core ◽

Nuclear Research ◽

Reactor Power ◽

Processing Unit ◽

Upward Movement ◽

Nuclear Research Reactor

This paper introduces a new controller module based on a high-speed field-programmable gate array (FPGA) and digital signal processing (DSP) using moving average (MA) filters for calculation of the reactor power and period at the start range of the Dalat nuclear research reactor (DNRR). The reactor power is proportional to the neutron flux in the reactor core, and the reactor period is the time that the reactor power changes by a factor of 2.718. In the control and protection system (CPS) of the DNRR, the reactor power and period have been monitored by the 8-bit microprocessor controller named BPM-107R. There are two main functions of the BPM-107R controller including 1) measurement and determination of reactor power and period and 2) generation of warning and emergency protection signals by reactor power or/and by reactor period. Those discrete signals will access to the logical processing unit of the CPS to prohibit the upward movement of control rods or to shut down the reactor. The CPS has three BPM-107R controllers corresponding to three independent neutron flux measurement equipment (NFME) channels working by logic voting “2 out-of 3”. Each NFME channel was designed for detection of neutron flux density in the full range from 1×100 to 1.2×1010 n/cm2 ×s, which is divided into two sub-ranges named start range (SR) and working range (WR). The designed FPGA-based controller module was tested using simulated signals as well as signals from the CPS in comparison with the original controller BPM-107R. The experimental results show that the characteristics and functions of the two controllers are equivalent.

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Safety analysis of reactivity insertion accidents in a heavy water nuclear research reactor core using coupled 3D neutron kinetics thermal-hydraulic system code technique

Progress in Nuclear Energy ◽

10.1016/j.pnucene.2015.07.014 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 85 ◽

pp. 384-390 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

W. Titouche Kouidri ◽

F. Letaim ◽

A. Boucenna ◽

M.H. Boulhaouchet

Keyword(s):

Heavy Water ◽

Hydraulic System ◽

Research Reactor ◽

Reactor Core ◽

Nuclear Research ◽

Safety Analysis ◽

Neutron Kinetics ◽

Code Technique ◽

Nuclear Research Reactor ◽

Reactivity Insertion

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Thermal-hydraulic analysis of a research reactor on personal computer with TARR code

Vietnam Journal of Mechanics ◽

10.15625/0866-7136/10233 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 14 (3) ◽

pp. 1-5

Author(s):

Ngo Huy Can ◽

Nguyen Manh Lan ◽

Tran Van Tran

Keyword(s):

Personal Computer ◽

Research Reactor ◽

Reactor Core ◽

Nuclear Research ◽

Stationary Regime ◽

Hydraulic Calculation ◽

Hydraulic Analysis ◽

Fuel Assemblies ◽

Nuclear Research Reactor ◽

Thermal Hydraulic Analysis

The code has been created for thermal-hydraulic calculation of stationary regime of nuclear research reactor, using personal computer. The main objective of the code is to compute the thermal parameters in the reactor core in order to avoid any accident. The code can be applied for many fuel assemblies available in research reactors.

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