Computer-based automatic measurement system for remote inspection of nuclear fuel pellets

Abstract

Physical inspection and certification of nuclear reactor fuel element components is an activity demanding imagination and skill in devising accurate measuring systems. There is also a need for remote handling, automation, rapid processing and inspection data print-out when dealing with reactor fuel material. An automatic computerized fuel pellet inspection system has been developed by the Radiometallurgy Division at BARC to carry out dimensional and weight measurements on fuel pellets for the fast breeder test reactor at Kalpakkam, near Madras. The system consists of several subsystems each especially developed for a specific purpose as such items are not available off the shelf from manufacturers in India. If a general approach is adopted towards the paper, there are many innovations and ideas that can be used in the automatic inspection of a variety of products in industry. As the system is fairly involved, however, the paper does not attempt to give detailed description of the equipment. The function of the system is to accept a certain quantity of fuel pellets in a bowl feeder, separate the pellets which are outside dimensional and weight limits and form columns of accepted pellets. Dimensional and weight limits can be set as required and all inspection data is presented in a printed format. The system proceses pellets at the rate of 15 per minute. The entire system can be run by operators with no special skills.