Abstract
Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) in nuclear power plants today mostly relies on the qualification tests of the new equipment and adhering to some good installation practices. Diversity of the electromagnetic environment and different susceptibility of the plant equipment calls for a systematic classification of the EMC zones in a nuclear power plant. The paper proposes a methodology that uses a combination of the qualification tests, in situ and bench immunity tests, site survey measurements, operational experience, and numerical calculations to divide a nuclear power plant into a reasonable number of EMC zones. This would primarily help to have a better overview of the current EMC level in the plant and to unify emission and susceptibility requirements for the new equipment. In this paper, special attention is given to the preparation and performance of the in situ tests, which present the most challenging step of the methodology. In addition, the paper proposes some of the possible applications of the numerical calculations and addresses their challenges and limitations. The novel classification methodology, inspired by the equipment qualification program, is illustrated with examples from Krško Nuclear Power Plant, which recently performed a comprehensive EMC assessment.
Highlights
The electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) problem has been increasingly recognized in the nuclear industry in the past decades as many of the power plants have performed digital upgrades, thereby replacing the original analogue instrumentation and control (I&C) equipment with the more susceptible hybrid and digital I&C equipment [1]
It is critical to both both recognize that the excessive emissions could affect potentially susceptible equipment as well recognize that the excessive emissions could affect potentially susceptible equipment as well as the as the opposite case, where wealready have already identified thatisthere is susceptible equipment, which opposite case, where we have identified that there susceptible equipment, which means means that the emissions should be strictly controlled
The main control room (MCR)-01C zone is based on the increased E-field emissions, and the boundaries are determined based on the site survey measured emissions and calculated field attenuation according to Equation (1)
Summary
The electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) problem has been increasingly recognized in the nuclear industry in the past decades as many of the power plants have performed digital upgrades, thereby replacing the original analogue instrumentation and control (I&C) equipment with the more susceptible hybrid and digital I&C equipment [1]. In a typical NPP, there are cabinets that process vital plant signals, different pressure, temperature, flow, and other instrumentation as well as other sensitive electronics operating with extremely low signals such as radiation monitors. For these reasons, it is not easy to obtain an overall view of the plant’s EMC, which inevitably leads to problems with the definitions of the EMC requirements for the new equipment and the exclusion. The paper proposes a methodology that uses a combination of the qualification tests, in situ and bench immunity tests, site survey measurements, operational experience, and numerical calculations to divide a nuclear power plant into a reasonable number of EMC zones. It is more likely to obtain several categories describing the room from a point of view of susceptible equipment presence and/or appearance of the excessive EM parameters
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