Application of advanced core process monitoring procedures in German power reactors

The nuclear reactor core design and the nuclear fuel management have been changed remarkable during the last few years. This development was initiated by increasing costs for the fuel recycling and nuclear waste storage. The fuel material, the fuel pellet fabrication, the fuel assembly structure and the core composition have been varied to get an effective fuel exploitation. Based on advanced core process conditions the reactor power and the fuel burn-up have been increased at German plants in recent years. Improved dynamic process monitoring procedures are required to get more information about the varied core process behaviour during the reactor operation. Since several years ISTec has been performed investigations to the process monitoring based on process signal measurements in German nuclear power plants. Using the standard instrumentation of the plants process signals have been measured and analysed by means of the digital data acquisition system SIGMA. The measured time signals are influenced by core process transients, global and local process fluctuations and by signal line transfer functions. Advanced time series analysis methods have been applied to separate different process effects in the multiple signal matrix. The separation of different process influences can improve significantly the information about the process condition in the reactor core.