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CORDIS - Resultados de investigaciones de la UE
CORDIS

Core monitoring techniques and experimental validation and demonstration

Descripción del proyecto

Funcionamiento seguro de los reactores nucleares

A medida que envejece el parque mundial de reactores nucleares, garantizar su funcionamiento seguro y eficiente es todo un reto. Existe una necesidad acuciante de técnicas de supervisión avanzadas para detectar anomalías como vibraciones excesivas, bloqueos de circulación y perturbaciones del refrigerante, que pueden poner en peligro la seguridad y fiabilidad de las instalaciones. En este contexto, el equipo del proyecto CORTEX, financiado con fondos europeos, introducirá una técnica no invasiva de control del núcleo que aprovecha las fluctuaciones del flujo de neutrones. Al diferenciar las anomalías en función de sus características, ubicación y tipo, permitirá a las empresas de servicios públicos detectar problemas operativos en una fase temprana, lo que garantizará la adopción de medidas oportunas y mejorará la disponibilidad de electricidad limpia de carga base. En CORTEX también se desarrollarán técnicas de control «in situ» aplicables a los diseños de reactores actuales y futuros.

Objetivo

The CORTEX project aims at developing an innovative core monitoring technique that allows detecting anomalies in nuclear reactors, such as excessive vibrations of core internals, flow blockage, coolant inlet perturbations, etc. The technique will be based on primarily using the inherent fluctuations in neutron flux recorded by in-core and ex-core instrumentation, from which the anomalies will be differentiated depending on their type, location and characteristics. The method is non-intrusive and does not require any external perturbation of the system. The project will result in a deepened understanding of the physical processes involved. This will allow utilities to detect operational problems at a very early stage and to take proper actions before such problems have any adverse effect on plant safety and reliability. With an ageing fleet of nuclear reactors utilizing more challenging fuel assembly designs, core loadings, and operating more often in load-follow, new operational problems have been observed during the last decade and will become more frequent in the future. By making the detection and characterization of anomalies possible, the availability of nuclear-generated electricity will be further improved. This will contribute to a lowering of the CO2 footprint to the environment and to a higher availability of cheap base-load electricity to the consumers. By implementing the technique in the existing fleet of reactors, the technique will have a major impact. Moreover, the technique, being generic in nature, can be applied to future reactor types and designs. In order to develop a method that can reach a high Technology Readiness Level, the consortium was strategically structured around the required core expertise from all the necessary actors of the nuclear industry, both within Europe and outside. The broad expertise of the consortium members ensures the successful development of new in-situ monitoring techniques.

Convocatoria de propuestas

NFRP-2016-2017

Consulte otros proyectos de esta convocatoria

Convocatoria de subcontratación

NFRP-2016-2017-1

Régimen de financiación

RIA - Research and Innovation action

Coordinador

CHALMERS TEKNISKA HOGSKOLA AB
Aportación neta de la UEn
€ 788 277,50
Dirección
-
412 96 GOTEBORG
Suecia

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Región
Södra Sverige Västsverige Västra Götalands län
Tipo de actividad
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Enlaces
Coste total
€ 788 277,50

Participantes (19)