Title: Wireless sensing for monitoring nuclear power equipment

Authors: You-Rak Choi; Tae-Jin Park

Addresses: Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, 111, Daedeok-Daero 989 Beon-Gil, Yuseong-Gu, Daejeon, 34057, South Korea ' Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, 111, Daedeok-Daero 989 Beon-Gil, Yuseong-Gu, Daejeon, 34057, South Korea

Abstract: In the balance of plant (BOP) of the existing commercial nuclear power plant (NPP), failures occur more frequently than the primary system as the number of years of operation increases. Adding surveillance technology using wired sensors to existing commercial NPPs' BOPs is highly inefficient in terms of installation, cost, and maintenance. These issues can be resolved using wireless technology, but commercialising wireless technology requires solving electro-magnetic compatibility (EMC) issues and battery replacement cycles in wireless devices. EMC issues are codified in international regulations, and the application of wireless devices to date is strictly regulated to only category C. NPP is very complex and requires a number of wireless sensors to monitor the equipment in BOP. The wireless devices can be put to practical use only if they can monitor commercial NPP without battery re-placement for longer than 18 months, a period scheduled for maintenance. In this study, we developed a high-performance, low-power wireless sensing technology that solves EMC problems.

Keywords: NPP; nuclear power plant; BOP; balance of plant; wireless technology; low-power sensing; EMC; electro-magnetic compatibility.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNT.2024.137415

International Journal of Nanotechnology, 2024 Vol.21 No.3, pp.165 - 170

Published online: 18 Mar 2024 *

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