Study on control characteristics for HTTR hydrogen production system with mock-up test facility: System controllability test for fluctuation of chemical reaction

The Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute has a demonstration test plan of a hydrogen production system by steam reforming of methane coupling with the High-Temperature Engineering Test Reactor (HTTR). Prior to the coupling of a hydrogen production plant with the HTTR, simulation tests with a mock-up test facility of the HTTR hydrogen production system (HTTR-H2) is underway. The test facility is a 1/30-scale of the HTTR-H2 and simulates key components downstream from an intermediate heat exchanger of the HTTR. The main objective of the simulation tests is the establishment and demonstration of control technology, focusing on the mitigation of a thermal disturbance to the reactor by a steam generator (SG) and on the controllability of the pressure difference between the helium and process gases at the reaction tube in a steam reformer (SR). It was confirmed that the fluctuation of the outlet helium gas temperature at the SG and the pressure difference in the SR can be controlled within the allowable range for the HTTR-H2 in the case of the system controllability test for the fluctuation of chemical reaction. In addition, a dynamic simulation code for the HTTR-H2 was verified with the obtained test data.     

Study on explosion characteristics of natural gas and methane in semi-open space for the HTTR hydrogen production system

It is important to grasp the explosion characteristics of object gases: natural gas and methane, in order to evaluate the influence of a gas explosion accident in the HTTR hydrogen production system on the reactor. Thus, we carried out explosion experiments of the object gases in semi-open space, and verified a numerical analysis code for the simulation of the explosion accident. It was confirmed that NG–air mixture or methane-air mixture in semi-open space did not result in DDT although 10 g of C-4 explosive was used as an ignition source, and the numerical results agreed relatively with the experimental results. As a result, we could have the prospects for predicting the influence of the explosion accident on the reactor.     

Development of a digital mock-up system for selecting a decommissioning scenario

The evaluation of decommissioning scenarios is critical to the successful development and execution of a decommissioning project. In the past, many experts have used a physical mock-up system to find the exact work processes and the working positions. Nowadays, these jobs are being done by a Digital Mock-Up (DMU) system. The DMU, which is a technology to realize an effective work process by using virtual environments through representing the physical and logical schema and the behavior of a real decommissioning work, can save on the cost and time, reduce the risk of making later changes, and develop various decommissioning scenarios. In this research, a decommissioning DMU system was developed for simulating the relevant dismantling processes. Decommissioning data-computing modules which can calculate a dismantling schedule, quantify a radioactive waste, visualize a radioactive inventory, estimate a decommissioning cost, and estimate a worker’s exposure were also developed to qualitatively assess the decommissioning information. And an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) model was developed to evaluate the decommissioning scenarios which reflected the quantitative and qualitative considerations. To establish the proper scenario for the thermal column in KRR-1, the developed decommissioning DMU system was applied to evaluate the two candidate scenarios of it.     

Development of an evaluation method for the HTTR-IS nuclear hydrogen production system

A thermochemical water splitting hydrogen production system based on the iodine sulphur (IS) process is presently under development in JAEA. The hydrogen production system is to be connected to the HTTR operating test reactor in JAEA. An important development goal for the HTTR-IS system is design and construction of the IS process to the standards of a conventional chemical industrial plant in order to simplify the cost and operation of the overall nuclear hydrogen production.     

Unavailability analysis of a lithium target system for a test facility

For an experimental facility like the International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility, safety, performance and reliability are outstanding attributes. The results of an analysis aimed at estimating the unavailability figure of the target system and evaluating the expected performance of the plant, in terms of safe and reliable operation, are presented in this article. Starting points of the analysis have been the identification of relevant plant functions and relationships between plant systems and functions and the definition of relationships among the systems themselves. Fault tree technique has been adopted to address the topic: with regard to the reference configuration, systems boundaries and interfaces have been identified as well as the dependent failures between systems and components. Due to the novelty of the plant and its prototypical character, reliability data introduced in the numerical simulation underwent an accurate screening process among the current available databases, sometimes requiring the expert judgment assessment. Finally an uncertainty, importance and sensitivity analysis has been performed in order to add credit to the model and to highlight reliability-critical systems and components: results are analyzed to assess the compliance with the plant availability requirements and design criteria. Risk Spectrum code has been utilized for the system unavailability quantification.     

Development of a pump performance model for an integral effect test facility

Modeling methods for the reactor coolant pumps of the existing integral facilities are reviewed from the viewpoint of scaling, single- and two-phase characteristics. A series of separate effect tests was performed for the pumps of the ATLAS (Advanced Thermal-hydraulic test Loop for Accident Simulation) in order to obtain a complete set of single-phase homologous curves in all the quadrant operating regions. Besides the friction loss tests for the sheared shaft and the locked rotor conditions were conducted to extend the homologous curves to the limiting cases. A method which can take into account the two-phase degradation effects of the ATLAS pumps was suggested as a first approximation based on similarity principles. The present data and model can completely replace the pump input model of the MARS 3.1 code both for single- and two-phase conditions.     

An integral effect test of a complete loss of reactor coolant system flow rate for the SMART design using the VISTA-ITL facility and its simulation with the MARS-KS code

An integral effect test was successfully performed to provide data to assess the capability of the system analysis code to simulate a complete loss of reactor coolant system (RCS) flow rate (CLOF) scenario for the SMART (System-integrated Modular Advanced ReacTor) design. The steady-state conditions were achieved to satisfy initial test conditions presented in the test requirement, its boundary conditions were accurately simulated, and the CLOF scenario in the SMART design was reproduced properly using the VISTA-ITL facility. The natural circulation flow rate in the RCS was about 12.0% of the rated RCS flow rate and the flow rate in the passive residual heat removal system (PRHRS) loop was about 10.6% of its rated value in the early stage of the PRHRS operation. In this paper, the major experimental results of the CLOF test are discussed. The test results were analyzed using the best-estimate system analysis code, MARS-KS, to assess its capability to simulate a CLOF scenario for the SMART design.     

Development of Compton imaging system for nuclear material monitoring at pyroprocessing test-bed facility

The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) has constructed a test-bed facility, named PRIDE (PyRoprocess Integrated inactive DEmonstration), for demonstration of pyroprocessing technology. Even though the PRIDE facility utilizes depleted uranium, instead of actual spent fuel, as process material, it will play an important role not only from the process perspective, but also from the safeguards standpoint. In the present study, a Compton imaging system based on pixelated GAGG:Ce scintillation detectors was constructed and tested to determine its utility for accurate imaging of nuclear material locations and, thus, its applicability as a safeguards monitoring system at the PRIDE facility. In a lab-scale performance evaluation, when the dose rate induced by a ¹³⁷Cs point-like source was ～0.1 μSv/h, the source location was imaged within 5 min. The image resolutions were 22° and 7.6° for real-time monitoring using a back-projection algorithm and for near-real-time monitoring using a statistical iterative algorithm, respectively. The developed Compton imaging system was finally applied to low-enriched uranium and also to depleted uranium, which latter is the process material of the PRIDE facility, and it was indicated that the Compton imaging system can localize nuclear materials within a few minutes under conditions similar to those prevailing at the PRIDE facility. The results of this study show that the Compton imaging system, and Compton imaging technology in general, has a great potential for utilization as a nuclear material monitoring tool at the PRIDE facility.     

Development of a fraction collector for coupling gas chromatography with an AMS facility

It has been shown that microscale ¹⁴C measurements are possible by using a gas handling system and a gas ion source [T. Uhl, W. Kretschmer, W. Luppold, A. Scharf, AMS measurements from microgram to milligram, Nucl. Instr. and Meth. (2005) 474 (240th ed.), T. Uhl, W. Luppold, A. Rottenbach, A. Scharf, K. Kritzler, W. Kretschmer, Development of an automatic gas handling system for microscale AMS (¹⁴C) measurements, Nucl. Instr. and Meth. (2007) 303 (259th ed.)]. In Erlangen a gas handling system was especially developed for environmental and biomedical investigations. For the separation of the compound of interest a standard gas chromatograph (GC) is used. To minimize the sample contamination and sample loss we have designed a fraction collector that connects a GC and an elemental analyzer (EA) directly. The selected compound is combusted in the EA and the resulting CO₂ is then transferred into the gas handling system for AMS measurements. From the beginning of GC preparation up to the AMS measurement the sample is in a closed line. All operations are fully automated, so no manual operations are necessary. This guarantees high cleanness and maximum sample yield. Preliminary measurements are done using modern and old ethyl alcohol (from fermentation and of petrochemical origin, respectively). The results are consistent with their expected values although cross contamination and background signal increased as the sample mass was decreased.     

SSRF高性能数字化电源检测系统

设计了上海光源(SSRF)高性能数字化电源检测系统的硬件,并采用LabVIEW开发了RS-232/以太网通信的系统检测软件,实现了仪器与数字化电源控制和24 h的数据采集、显示与保存功能.用户可通过局域网方便地通过此系统获取数据,并用Excel格式存储数据为SSRF数字化电源系统性能分析和建立数字化电源性能指标数据库提供依据.     

可编程逻辑控制系统在北京自由电子激光装置的实验物理和工业控制系统中的应用

在北京自由电子激光(BFEL)装置的搬迁改造工程中,开关机系统的控制采用基于实验物理和工业控制系统(EPICS)的可编程逻辑控制(PLC)控制系统,它具有安全可靠、操作简单、易于扩展、便于通讯等优点.本文介绍了该控制系统的设计和开发,包括系统软硬件的结构设计以及系统的EtherNet/IP网络通讯.     

CSNS中子带宽限制斩波器样机控制系统的设计与实现

中子带宽限制斩波器是中国散裂中子源(CSNS)飞行时间型中子散射谱仪中用于选择特定波段范围中子的装置,其控制系统要求能够实现斩波器相位信号与加速器定时信号同步并完成对斩波器运行状态监控的功能。本文针对控制指标的要求,阐述了控制系统的结构、控制原理及软件设计方案,并对系统控制精度和稳定性进行了分析。     

Development of COTS ADC SEE test system for the ATLAS LAr calorimeter upgrade

Commercial off-the-shelf(COTS) ADCs(analog-to-digital converters) that are radiation-tolerant, high speed,high density and low power will be used in upgrading the LAr(liquid argon) calorimeter front end(FE) trigger readout electronics. Total ionization dose(TID) and single event effect(SEE) of the COTS ADCs should be characterized. In our initial TID test, 17 COTS ADCs from different manufacturers with dynamic range and sampling rate meeting requirements of the FE electronics were checked, and the ADS5272 of Texas Instruments(TI) was the best performer of all. Another interesting feature of ADS5272 is its 6.5 clock cycles latency, which is the shortest of all the 17 candidates. Based on the TID performance, we designed an SEE evaluation system for ADS5272, which allows us to further assess its radiation tolerance. In this paper, we present a detailed design of ADS5272 SEE evaluation system and show the effectiveness of this system while evaluating ADS5272 SEE characteristics in multiple irradiation tests. According to TID and SEE test results, ADS5272 was chosen to be implemented in the full-size LAr Trigger Digitizer Board(LTDB) demonstrator, which will be installed on ATLAS calorimeter during the 2014 Long Shutdown 1(LS1).     

Development of a helicon-wave excited plasma facility with high magnetic field for plasma-wall interactions studies

The high magnetic field helicon experiment system is a helicon wave plasma(HWP)source device in a high axial magnetic field(B_0)developed for plasma–wall interactions studies for fusion reactors.This HWP was realized at low pressure(5?×?10~(-3)?-?10 Pa)and a RF(radio frequency,13.56 MHz)power(maximum power of 2 k W)using an internal right helical antenna(5 cm in diameter by 18 cm long)with a maximum B_0of 6300 G.Ar HWP with electron density~10~(18)–10~(20)m~(-3)and electron temperature~4–7 e V was produced at high B_0 of 5100 G,with an RF power of 1500 W.Maximum Ar~+ion flux of 7.8?×?10~(23)m~(-2)s~(-1)with a bright blue core plasma was obtained at a high B_0 of 2700 G and an RF power of 1500 W without bias.Plasma energy and mass spectrometer studies indicate that Ar~+ion-beams of 40.1 eV are formed,which are supersonic(~3.1c_s).The effect of Ar HWP discharge cleaning on the wall conditioning are investigated by using the mass spectrometry.And the consequent plasma parameters will result in favorable wall conditioning with a removal rate of 1.1?×?10~(24)N_2/m~2 h.     

Development of a control rod depletion methodology for the Westinghouse NEXUS system

The NEXUS project is an effort to merge and modernize the methods employed in Westinghouse PWR and BWR steady-state reactor physics codes. The NEXUS system relies on a once-through nodal cross-section generation methodology with an innovative and efficient technique for pin power recovery. The pin power methodology overcomes a well-known limitation of existing methodologies, namely the incapacity to properly account for heterogeneity changes due to the depletion environment. The so-called control rod history problem where control rods are repeatedly inserted and withdrawn during core depletion is a good example of such a case. In addition to the control rod history impact on pin power distributions, the insertion of control rods during extended periods leads to significant control rod depletion that affects the reactivity worth of the control rods which in turn can have a significant impact on pin powers. The importance of accurately predicting pin powers, combined with the need to adequately estimate the reactivity worth and nuclear end of life of control rods in BWRs and in generation III+ PWRs, has motivated the development of a novel control rod depletion model. This methodology and its numerical qualification, initially for PWR application only, is the topic of this paper. The focus is on describing the salient features of the model and on illustrating its performance by means of numerical experiments. It is shown that together with the NEXUS pin power recovery model, the control rod depletion methodology accurately predicts the reactivity feedback from repeated control rod insertions in a PWR core.     

RIBLL终端LASCAR阵列探测器PMT高压控制系统的研制

介绍了RIBLL终端LASCAR上PMT阵列电源高压控制系统。该系统以当今工程控制中常用的微型计算机作为核心器件,采用合适的外围电路达到了对PMT阵列稳定、可靠的控制,在现场测试中取得了良好的效果。