Workshop on Core Monitoring for Commercial Reactors: Improvements
in Systems and Methods
The workshop on Core Monitoring for Commercial Reactors:
Improvements in Systems and Methods (CoMoCoRe'99) was organised jointly
by Vattenfall AB, ABB Atom and the Swedish Nuclear Power Inspectorate
and was held on 4-5 October 1999 in Stockholm. It was chaired by T. Lefvert.
The main objective was to discuss how instrumentation, methods and models
used in core monitoring (CM) could be validated, or, if needed, improved
and further developed to provide more reliable and/or detailed information
on local power in the core and on other parameters indirectly affecting
fuel duty as e.g. the core decay ratio in a BWR. Another important objective
was to show how the core monitoring system can be used to support reactor
operation in normal and anticipated transient modes and to supply data
used to derive initial key core parameters for transient- and accident
analysis. It dealt with applications for all commercial LWR types, including
VVER.
The workshop was attended by about
sixty participants from 30 organisations representing 15 countries. Twenty-three
papers were presented in four technical sessions. The technical sessions
included:
Requirements on Core Monitoring Systems, Sensors,
Signal Processing & Evaluation,
Improved Core Models in Core Monitoring,
Improved Core Monitoring Systems,
Design and Operating Experience.
Major trends observed include:
Introduction of more detailed physics models in on-line
calculations for both BWR and PWR
More wide-spread discussion on possible advantages
of backfitting some PWR types with fixed in-core detectors.
Methods to combine the information from on-line measurements
and on-line calculations.
Some conclusions:
There is an on-going development in physics models
in the reactor physics, thermal-hydraulics and other related research
communities. This will provide improved models that can be implemented
in CM systems.
Signal validation is of prime importance in any CM
system and could be a subject for further study in the framework of
NEA
More rigorous methods to combine information from measured and calculated
data should also be very useful in future CM systems.