IMPROVEMENT OF THE RIMS DETECTION SENSITIVITY FOR APPLICATION TO FAILED FUEL DETECTION AND LOCATION SYSTEM OF THE FAST REACTOR
In the fast reactors, rapid and accurate detection of fuel failures as well as subsequent identification of failed fuel location are essential to achieve their safety operation and high plant availability. The gas tagging method, currently employed in the prototype fast breeder reactor Monju, is one of the efficient ways for the foiled fuel detection and location (FFDL) technique, the principle of which is the isotope analysis of the argon (Ar) cover gas that includes, in case of fuel failure, a partial amount of leaked krypton (Kr) and xenon (Xe) originally loaded into each fuel pin. We propose a new type of FFDL technique using laser resonance ionization mass spectrometry (RIMS) for the isotope analysis of the cover gas in view of selective ionization of a specific element to obtain high S/N ratio. Nevertheless, the actual experimental data shows the existence of Ar and Ar2 non-resonant ionization by the photoelectron generated in the vacuum chamber to hinder precise measurement of Kr and Xe. We could successfully decrease the effect of these ions by one to two orders of magnitude by applying both a set of a neutralization apparatus and a Brewster window, and an electrode with a slit-type hole in the ion acceleration region, resulting in reliability improvement of RIMS in the FFDL system.
Yoshihiro Iwata Hideki Harano Chikara Ito Takafumi Aoyama
Japan Atomic Energy Agency 4002 Narita-cho, Oarai, Ibaraki 311-1393, Japan National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology Central 2, 1-1-1 Umezono, Tsukuba, University of Fukui 3-9-1 Bunkyo, Fukui 910-8507,Japan
国际会议
18th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering(第18届国际核能工程大会 ICONE 18)
西安
英文
1-8
2010-05-17（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）