Designing a system to detect leaking in fuel elements in Brazilian Triga research reactor Online publication date: Tue, 16-Oct-2018
by Rogerio Rivail Rodrigues; Amir Zacarias Mesquita; Daniel Artur Pinheiro Palma
International Journal of Nuclear Energy Science and Technology (IJNEST), Vol. 12, No. 3, 2018
Abstract: The Nuclear Technology Development Centre (CDTN) is a research institute administered by the Brazilian Nuclear Energy Commission (CNEN) located in Belo Horizonte/Brazil. The CDTN is equipped with a Triga Mark I nuclear reactor with almost 60 years of operation. Most of its fuel elements are in the core since the first criticality, and corrosion may occur that threatens the integrity of spent fuel claddings. The reactor coolant must be treated and controlled in order to maintain its low electrical conductivity and pH close to neutrality, in order to minimise the corrosion of the reactor components, mainly the fuel elements. The objective of this work is to present the leak monitoring system developed for the verification of possible leaks in the Triga fuel elements based on the sipping test. A correlation was also developed to find the diameter of a hypothetical small cylindrical hole in the fuel cladding as a function of Cs-137 activity values to be measured.
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Nuclear Energy Science and Technology (IJNEST):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:
Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.
If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com
Our Blog 
Follow us on Twitter 
Visit us on Facebook