BURST CARTRIDGE DETECTION IN BRITISH GAS-COOLED REACTORS

Journal Article · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1963 · Proc. Inst. Mech. Engrs. (London)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1243/PIME_PROC_1963_177_028_02· OSTI ID:4147560

Dent, K H; Williams, D W

A fission product precipitation system is described for the detection of burst cartridge. Gaseous fission products diffuse through the leak in the can wall against a coolant inflow induced by oxidation of the fuel, and their presence in the coolant has to be detected against an unavoidable background count. The leak size at the threshold of detection can be estimated from the operating conditions, and the manner in which b.c.d. (burst cartridge detection) sr-gnals arise from a developing burst merits special study. To discriminate against the radioactive decay of the coolant gas itself the precipitation system of monitoring is used. From each fuel channel in the reactor a sample of gas is drawn periodically. This is passed through a precipitation chamber where particular fission product nuclides decay to give ionized daughter products which are collected on a charged wire. The wire is moved to a shielded scintillation counter and the fission product nuclides, which undergo a second radioactive transition, are measured to the exclusion of the active nuclides in the coolant which do not. The performance and sensitivity of the system can be calculaied and optimized by considering the expression for the count from the wire. The mechanical design of the equipment varies in detail from station to station. In later designs the mechanical equipment is simpler and easier to maintain, and greater use is being made of automatic processing and presentation of the signal. (P.C.H.)

• Research Organization: United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, Risley, Lancs, Eng.
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• NSA Number: NSA-18-006502
• OSTI ID: 4147560
• Journal Information: Proc. Inst. Mech. Engrs. (London), Journal Name: Proc. Inst. Mech. Engrs. (London) Vol. Vol: 177
• Country of Publication: Country unknown/Code not available
• Language: English

Related Subjects

ACTIVATION
BACKGROUND
BETA DECAY
BETA DETECTION
CHARGED PARTICLES
CONTAMINATION
COOLANT LOOPS
DECAY
DIFFUSION
EFFICIENCY
ELECTRIC FIELDS
EQUATIONS
FAILURES
FISSION PRODUCTS
FUEL CANS
FUEL ELEMENTS
GAS COOLANT
GAS FLOW
GASES
INSTRUMENTS
IONS
LABORATORY EQUIPMENT
LEAKS
MAINTENANCE
MONITORING
OXIDATION
PERFORMANCE
PLANNING
POWER PLANTS
PRECIPITATION
RADIATION SOURCES
RADIOACTIVITY
RADIOISOTOPES
REACTOR CORE
REACTOR TECHNOLOGY
RECORDING SYSTEMS
SAMPLING
SCINTILLATION COUNTERS
SENSITIVITY
SERVOMECHANISMS
SHIELDING
SIGNALS
TRANSPORT
WIRES