Development of a Nuclear Reactor First Fuel Loading Monitoring System Based on Boron Coated Proportional Counter

Abstract

In order to ensure the effective supervision of safety criticality during the initial loading and refueling of the reactor and prevent critical accidents during the core loading, the primary loading system of the nuclear reactor is developed. The system detector assembly, monitoring cabinet, measuring channel cabinet and lifting scheme are designed in detail, and the system is fully tested and verified. The detector assembly with boron coated proportional counter tube as the core is designed with pressure resistance and sealing structure, and the integrated high shielding anti-interference cable design is adopted to ensure the stability of signal transmission. The signal processing device adopts the form of cabinet and plug-in box to realize the functions of signal conditioning, pulse counting, alarm display, cycle value calculation and historical record. The isolation design of the signal processing and display plug-in of the measurement channel box further ensures the reliability of the system. Through test and verification, the system’s water pressure tightness, radiation characteristics and stability can meet the requirements of neutron flux rate monitoring during the initial loading process. It has been applied to units 3 and 4 of Fangchenggang nuclear power station.

Keywords

• nuclear reactor
• first fuel loading
• boron coated proportional counter
• pressure seal