Abstract
Ultrasonic techniques are developed at CEA (French Alternative Energies and Nuclear Energy Commission) for in-service inspection of sodium-cooled reactors (SFRs). Among them, an ultrasound imaging system made up of two orthogonal antennas and originally based on an underwater imaging system is studied for long-distance vision in the liquid sodium of the reactor’s primary circuit. After a description of the imaging principle of this system, some results of a simulation study performed with the software CIVA in order to optimize the antenna parameters are presented. Then, experimental measurements carried out in a water tank illustrate the system capabilities. Finally, the limitations of the imaging performances and the ongoing search of solutions to address them are discussed.
Highlights
Since France considered in 2008 that the sodium-cooled reactor (SFR) concept was the most mature for Generation IV nuclear reactors, an extensive R&D programme was launched
Development of ultrasonic transducers to be immersed in sodium at about 200 ◦ C in the reactor block led to a first phase of specification consolidation; a prequalification process involving increasingly more realistic experiments using acoustic techniques and simulations was performed with the patented CIVA code [1]
As the combination of the two fan-beams leads to a deflected cigar-beam of which the orientation depends on the position of the focusing point in the field of vision, the system is suitable only for targets generating specular echoes that come back to the receiver regardless of their orientation and position in the field of vision and for targets, as the large, rough, curved surfaces of a reactor vessel, that diffract the field in all directions
Summary
Since France considered in 2008 that the sodium-cooled reactor (SFR) concept was the most mature for Generation IV nuclear reactors, an extensive R&D programme was launched. Than scanned withtaken the same number in of order elements arrangedits incapabilities a matrix pattern, thanks to the This that concept has been up recently to reexplore using and actual simulation large antenna’s aperture in the focusing plane, remote targets are likely to be imaged. This concept has tools and imaging methods. The first simulated results and experimental measurements performed in water highlight the Toshiba Corporation while imaging algorithms are adapted or developed for its potential of the system in which manufacturing for sodium trials is ongoing at Toshiba Corporation applications. While imaging algorithms are adapted or developed for its applications
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