Sump Tank Research Articles

Development of 16N monitoring system for real-time detection of small leakage in reactor coolant systems

This paper introduces a16N monitoring system designed for the real-time detection of minor coolant leaks in nuclear reactors. Conventional coolant leak detection methods in nuclear power plants rely on observing changes in sump tank water levels, as guided by Nuclear Regulatory Commission standards. However, these methods are slow and often inaccurate, particularly for detecting small leakages of less than 0.5 gallons per minute (gpm). Such delays pose risks of corrosion from boric acid and potential safety hazards due to mechanical or thermal fatigue at critical junctions. To address these challenges, we have developed a Reactor Coolant System (RCS) leakage detection system that can swiftly identify small coolant leaks. This system employs beta-ray emissions from 16N, a nuclide predominantly produced during reactor operation and accounting for 90.4% of the total radioactivity in the APR1400 RCS coolant. High-energy beta-rays emitted by 16N are ideal for monitoring due to their significant energy levels, which distinguish them from other nuclides. This system is specifically designed for installation within the annulus zone of the reactor containment, where it captures air near reactor pipes to measure 16N beta-rays. Given the short half-life of 16N (7.13 s), direct measurement is challenging; hence, we use an indirect method to determine calibration factors between dose rate with count rate and estimate radioactivity concentrations based on simulation data and experimental measurements with a surrogate 90Sr/Y source. This system can enhance the safety protocols of nuclear plants by enabling early detection of leaks. Our findings demonstrate that this system can detect leaks as small as 0.01 gpm within seconds, significantly improving response times compared to conventional methods.

Ammonia conversion in an aquaponics system using activated carbon-coated and non-coated bioball in the biological treatment tank

The key to efficiently converting toxic nitrogen waste (ammonia) to nitrate nitrogen in an aquaponics system is a biological treatment system that uses media. High surface area media is suitable for bacterial colonization; however, clogging due to small pores can be detrimental to the whole system. Thus, this study assessed the aquaponics system performance utilizing plastic media Cosmoball® and compared it with Cosmoball® coated with activated carbon (AC-coated) in the biological treatment tank. A laboratory-scale recirculating aquaponics system comprised a fish tank, a clarifier system to remove the solids, a biological tank filled with the plastic media, a sump tank, and a raft planting system for planting mustard green. The experiment was run in two phases: start-up to develop the biological treatment using non-coated, and AC-coated Cosmoball® and the experimental phase. Water qualities related to aquaponics such as ammonia, nitrate, pH and selected plant qualities were analyzed. It took longer for the start-up phase using uncoated Cosmoball® to stabilize than the coated ones. Once stabilized, denoted by optimal pH ranges (average 6.8), the seedlings were transferred. Nitrate during the experimental phase of the non-coated Cosmoball® reading was slightly higher, averaging around 20 ppm as compared to only averaging about 10 for the coated ones. Higher nitrate and a more optimal pH range for nutrient uptake for plant growth at around 6.5 during the planting phase when using AC-coated Cosmoball® resulted in better plant growth. Almost 4.4 times the increment of average height at 0.8 to 6.5 cm was noted for AC-coated Cosmoball®, and the number of leaves had doubled. The activated carbon coated plastic media Cosmoball® is a promising media for an aquaponics system with better plant growth.

Hydraulic calculation of irrigation settling tanks of Amu Darya irrigation systems

The Amu Darya river carries a large amount of up to 15 kg/m3of suspended matter containing up to 85-90% suspended and 10-15% bottom sediments, which pose a serious threat to the hydroelectric power station and irrigation systems operating in its basin. In case of dam water intake, head sump tanks are provided in the composition of waterworks. So, in the composition of Right-Bank and Left-Bank, sedimentation tanks with mechanical cleaning to protect the channels were built at the Takhiatash hydroelectric complex Kaskelenskaya and Selinsky irrigation system. It is established that the hydraulic and alluvial modes of operation of these settling tanks depend on the water, alluvial, and backwater modes of operation Takhiatash waterworks. It is noted that due to low water conditions, this hydroelectric power plant operated for a significant part of the year with fully closed gates in all spans, producing intensive siltation of the upper stream. These processes led to a change in the alluvial mode of operation of the settling tanks. At the same time, due to low water and excessive design dimensions, in the first years of operation, these settling tanks were heavily silted up, the bottom mark rose to 17.2 m (above the design 165 m). Properly designed settling tanks should prevent siltation of main and distribution channels while respecting the transport capacity of the channels located below. It is proved that some well-known methods for calculating settling tanks, due to their complexity and bulkiness, cannot be used in calculating siltation modes of settling tanks under operational conditions that require simplification or finding a simpler relationship. A simple method is developed for calculating the dynamics of sediment deposition in irrigation sump tanks based on the probability of turbulent pulsation motion. Recommended: for normal operation of irrigation septic tanks, it is necessary to carry out systematic monitoring of the output turbidity and intensity of treatment, as well as water supply according to the water consumption schedule.

Revision of discharge limit of gross beta activity to the aquatic environment based on public dose estimation

Low-level liquid effluents generated from Regional Centre, Board of Radiation, and Isotope Technology (BRIT), Delhi, are generally discharged to the aquatic environment after suitable treatment (delay, decay, and dilution for short-lived radionuclides) conforming the regulatory compliance as authorized by Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, Mumbai. The Regional Center, BRIT-Delhi is generating the liquid effluents containing short-lived radionuclides 99Mo (T1/2−66.7 h) and 99mTc (T1/2−6.02 h) and also long-lived radionuclide 99Tc (T1/2−2.13 × 105 years) from the production of ready to use 99mTc-radiopharmaceuticals as human injectable product. This liquid waste generated during the washing of radioactive contaminated glassware is inorganic in nature and is stored in 02 number of sump tanks (capacity 50 m3 each) for delay and decay of short-lived radionuclides. The center has also planned to produce and supply 68Ga radiopharmaceuticals in future. There is a possibility that some of these radionuclides may reach the drinking water by various natural pathways. The presence of radionuclides in the drinking water above certain level may result in radiation dose to the public through the ingestion pathways. The observance of prescribed radionuclide concentration in waste water, total activity limits, and other basic safety requirements stipulated by the regulatory body help to minimize the public radiation dose. This article is an effort to derive the annual discharge limit for gross β activity at Regional Center, BRIT-Delhi to the aquatic environment of an inland site based on the drinking water standard limits prescribed by the World Health Organization. This article also discusses the effective dose received by the actual discharge of radioactive liquid effluent from the Regional Center, BRIT-Delhi.

Cân bằng vật chất dinh dưỡng trong hệ thống tuần hoàn nuôi cá trê vàng (Clarias macrocephalus)

The study was carried out with bighead catfish (Clarias macrocephalus) reared in a recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) that consisting of 100-L culture tank, 30-L swirl separator, 60-L sump tank and 70-L moving bed biofilm reactor. Four different sizes (10 g, 30 g, 70 g and 100 g) of fish was stocked at density of 100 fish/tank then fed to ad libitum rate by floating pellets (41% crude protein) for 15 days. In the total of feed supply, retention in fish accounted by 25.4-32.7% in dry matter (DM) and 28.6-42.7% in nitrogen (N); waste production by fecal loss made up 8.8-23.1% of DM and 14.7-40.0% of N; and non-fecal loss accounting for 12.8-15.3% of DM and 36.7-38.4% of N. The remaining was consumed by bacteria and lost by evaporation and seepage. Results also revealed that to produce 1 kg of fish, it was necessary to provide 780.6-1,033.7 g DM containing of 48.5-64.3 g N. Of which, nutrient accumulation in fish was 255.2-262.3 g DM and 20.0-21.1 g N; released in waste production of 525.4-771.5 g DM and 27.5-44.3 g N.

Exploring the advantages and limitations of sampling methods commonly used in research facilities for zebrafish health inspections

Examining zebrafish populations for the presence of disease is an integral component of managing fish health in research facilities. Currently, many different strategies are used for zebrafish fish health inspections, which is a scenario that may result in subjective and biased diagnostic evaluations. The goal of this study was to compare the success of pathogen detection between a sample size of randomly selected fish (n = 60) that provides 95% confidence in pathogen detection based on a presumed pathogen prevalence level ≥5%, and other subpopulations and sample numbers commonly submitted for diagnostic testing within a 1000 tank, 30,000 fish, recirculating research system. This included fish collected from a sump tank (n = 53), sentinel fish (n = 11), and fish that were found moribund or freshly dead (n = 18). Additionally, five fish from each subpopulation were collected for histopathologic examination. A second study used retrospective data to examine pathogen distribution between systems (n = 2-5) in multi-system facilities (n = 5) using a sample size of 60 fish per system. For the pathogens detected, results supported the use of representative sample numbers rather than smaller numbers of populations considered more at risk. The exception to this is for the moribund/mortality group, which may be a resource for targeted surveillance of select pathogens. Each system within multi-system facilities should be considered separate units in terms of fish health inspections and biosecurity. Development of these evidence-based standards for fish health inspections in zebrafish systems enhances fish welfare, provides identification of potentially zoonotic pathogens, and ensures scientific integrity and reproducibility of research results.

Applicability Analysis of New Type of Waterproof and Drainage Partition Theory for Tunnels

Based on the shortcomings of the existing anti-drainage partitioning methods, this paper proposes a new partitioning method with solutions to the shortcomings. Thoroughly waterproofing with a “Shi” type waterstop in the length of one section, partitioning drainage with a sump tank. According to the basic formula of Darcy’s law, the calculation formula of the partition length is derived. The calculation of the Yaoshan to Nandan Highway Layi tunnel is carried out. The recommended value of the partition length is given. The numerical simulation is used to verify the applicability of the partitioning method.

System Analysis of Domestic Waste Water Treatment Facilities

Parameters of treatment facilities by three groups were analyzed: small with capacity up to 5 K cu.m. a day, medium – up to 15 K cu.m. a day, and big – more than 15 K cu.m. a day. The analysis is aimed to determine technological steps, which determine the cost, area and required design electric capacity of the facility as a whole. The analysis revealed that for big facilities these are aerotanks and utility facilities; for medium facilities – aerotanks, sump tanks and utility facilities; for small facilities – primary settlers, aerotanks, utility facilities. The ways of technological steps improvement are formulated.

Nu

Nu Josh Emmons (bio) Click for larger view View full resolution The Stream Behind Alice’s House Fed into a river that led to the ocean. Besides men and women out hiking, and children skipping school, she sometimes saw deer, birds, and stray cats along its banks. She was afraid of cats. Cats had been gods to the ancient Egyptians, a death-struck people. The section of stream that divided her property ran down current from Mandrake Woods. Beneath Mandrake Woods lay a sea of natural gas. This sea was either confined and in need of release or contained and best left [End Page 127] alone. Whether it was confined or contained depended on whether humans had as many rights as they had obligations in the human era, the Anthropocene, now underway. The week before, a man named Carl had come to Alice’s house and told her about a town hall meeting to discuss gas drilling at Mandrake. A company had made a bid on the land. If she valued the stream, he said, she had to protest the drilling, because it would poison Mandrake’s substrata and kill off fish, algae, amphibians, birds, and other creatures that used its waterways. Carl had bad posture but strong, cloudless teeth. In his left hand he held an impact report drawn up by biologists who took no money from energy companies and cared only for science. He wore blue canvas sneakers with a slight elevation at the heel. After Carl left, a woman stopped by and said that the company asking to drill beneath Mandrake Woods would in fact use safe, ecologically sound methods, and that it would restore the area to its original condition afterward. If anything, the water and wildlife would be in better shape. This woman had been a year ahead of Alice in high school. Her name was Didi then, but now it was Celeste, and her long, blond hair had been dyed red and shaped into a playful bob with curls framing her ears. More to the point: natural gas emitted thirty percent less carbon dioxide than oil, a statistic the impact report failed to mention. With the world’s energy needs growing daily, the report’s authors were foolishly advising that the perfect be the enemy of the good. Alice’s father had started building this house before she was born, but it was still unfinished when she left for college, so she’d grown up in a leafy neighborhood in the nearby town of Kent. She’d returned to live in this remote house for the first time four months ago, as an adult upon the suspension of her marriage. There were unwired rooms and unhung doors, the paint was flaky, the sump tank cracked, and the chimney a ziggurat home to squirrels and bats. Otherwise it was in good condition. Her mother, who also hated cats, being allergic to them (or allergic to the glycoprotein in cat saliva), had suggested that she water the dirt path beside the stream so that people would find it muddy and quit using it. Privacy was important for a woman living alone. Alice’s husband, Marouf, would have thought watering the path a terrible idea, and worried about someone breaking their ankle—or worse. Hikers were generally unprepared for the procession from one world into the next, unlike the ancient Egyptians, who—from closely studying death and from revering cats—had learned a great deal about the Underworld, which they called Duat. As a girl, Alice had played hide-and-seek in Mandrake Woods and knew [End Page 128] all of its secret spots. One day she went home after a game and found her mother wiping slurred mascara from her eyes. “Your father,” her mother said, “isn’t a bad man. We need to remember that.” The suspension of Alice’s marriage had happened suddenly. One day she and Marouf were spicing lamb cubes and making potato salad together, and the next she was packing her bags to drive 125 miles back to the unfinished house near Kent. According to the ancients, people were a combination of ka, spirit, and ba, body. For the former to...

Development of an experimental facility for a liquid breeder in Korea

In order to develop a Li-based test blank module (TBM) in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), an Experimental Loop for Liquid breeder (ELLI) was constructed and its test operation was completed. The ELLI consists of a sump tank, an electromagnetic (EM) pump, a direct current (DC) magnet, and measurement devices such as a flow meter, pressure transmitters, a differential pressure transmitter, and thermocouples. The magnet used in magneto-hydrodynamics (MHD) tests was prepared with a maximum magnetic field of 2.2 T, and the magnetic field was measured. The EM pump was designed and fabricated to circulate a liquid breeder such as PbLi up to a maximum flow rate of 60 lpm, and measured up to a maximum rate of 10.4 lpm of a mass flow meter. For filling and draining the PbLi before and after experiments more easily, the entire loop was located on a tilting plate, which can incline the loop up to 15°. Jacket-type heaters were installed throughout the entire loop including the sump tank for heating up to 550 °C. The EM pump tests in the ELLI loop were performed using varying pump voltages.

A free-jet Hg target operating in a high magnetic field intersecting a high-power proton beam

A proof-of-principal experiment to investigate the interaction of a proton beam, high magnetic field, and high- Z target is planned to take place at CERN in early 2007. This experiment is part of the Muon Collider Collaboration, with participants from Brookhaven National Laboratory, Princeton University, Massachusetts Institute Of Technology, European Organization for Nuclear Research-CERN, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. An unconstrained mercury jet target system that interacts with a high power (1 MW) proton beam in a high magnetic field (15 T) is being designed. The Hg jet diameter is 1-cm with a velocity up to 20 m/s. A laser optical diagnostic system will be incorporated into the target design to permit observation of the dispersal of the jet resulting from interaction with a 24 GeV proton beam with up to 20×10 12 ppp. The target system includes instruments for sensing mercury vapor, temperature, flow rate, and sump tank level, and the means to position the jet relative to the magnetic axis of a solenoid and the proton beam. The design considerations for the system include all issues dealing with safely handling approximately 23 l of Hg, transporting the target system and the mercury to CERN, decommissioning the experiment, and returning the mildly activated equipment and Hg to the US.

Island size and bacterial diversity in an archipelago of engineering machines

There is an increasing realization that progress in bacterial ecology can be further advanced by applying theories and models developed in ecology. Consequently, there is a significant need to assess the applicability of such tools, developed specifically for macroorganisms, for investigating the underlying issues that determine bacterial diversity and community assemblage. In this study, we employed the island biogeography species-area model, originally conceived to assess colonization of islands by macroorganisms, to assess bacterial communities colonizing metal-cutting fluids from machines of increasing sump tank size, taking these to be analogous to islands of variable size. This system was selected because it is well studied and compared with other natural bacterial communities has a relatively low (manageable) diversity. Our findings show that island biogeography theory holds for the bacterial communities studied, in that smaller sump tanks contained lower and putatively less stable diversity, and larger sumps had greater diversity and were temporally stable. It was found that the calculated power law indices (i.e. z-values) were similar for all sample sets, and strikingly, typical of those observed in classical ecology. This was not expected as bacteria have significant distinguishing features such as huge population sizes, rapid asexual reproduction and small body size that facilitate dispersal, and are particularly resistant to extinction.

Impact of Sump Tank Size on Growth, Survival, and Production of Marron,Cherax tenuimanus, in an Intensive System

Juvenile marron, Cherax tenuimanus were cultured in an intensive crayfish culture system for a period of six months to study the effects of sump tank size on crayfish growth, survival, and producti...

Common Design Problems of Sump Tanks

E&P Exchange When gravity settling is used for water treating, the buoyancy of oil droplets makes them rise at a velocity proportional to the difference between the specific gravities of water and oil (Stokes' law). If the flow rate in a vertical vessel or skim pile is such that the average water velocity from the water inlet to the vessel outlet is greater than the droplet velocity as it rises owing to buoyancy, the droplet will be carried out with the water. The maximum flow rate for a vertical or horizontal sump is proportional to the difference in specific gravities. If a vessel is sized for produced water and oil but also is being used for rain water from deck runoff, the allowable flow rates for the two cases are different because of differences in the specific gravities of water and oil. Rain water normally has a lower specific gravity than produced water, and oil washed off the deck into the sump by rain is weathered oil with a specific gravity greater than that of the fresh oil. This is particularly true with very light oil or gas condensate, both of which contain more light components removed by weathering. As an example, assuming the weathering process leaves 30° API oil on the deck, the difference in specific gravities between rain water and weathered oil is 0.13. For process fluids, assuming a light oil (60°API) and produced water (specific gravity= 1.07), the difference in specific gravity could be 0.33. For a sump with the same diameter, the allowable flow rate for rain is 0.13/0.33 = 0.39 times the allowable flow rate for process fluids. A sump that is adequate for normal conditions and wash down may be undersized to handle runoff from a rainstorm because of a significantly smaller difference in specific gravities of the fluids involved. A second problem that shows up during rainstorms is not related to vessel diameter but to the configuration of the internals. For the vertical sump shown in Fig. 1, the static head of the water standing in the water leg is equal to the head of the water plus the oil pad inside the sump. If pure water flows into the sump, the level of the water inside the sump is equal to the height of the water leg outlet (neglecting a small additional height to overcome drag caused by the flow through the pipe).

Comparison of Stress Corrosion Cracking Properties of Several Aircraft Structural Alloys

Abstract Sustained load subcritical flaw growth characteristics of five alloys of interest to aircraft designers were investigated. The aluminum alloy (2024-T851) and steel alloy (18Ni-maraging) were studied in 3.5% sodium chloride solution and high humidity air environments while two of the titanium alloys, Ti-6Al-4V (recrystallized annealed) and Ti-6A1-6V-2Sn (solution-treated and overaged), were also investigated in these environments plus sump tank water. The Ti-6Al-4V (beta) alloy was tested in 3.5% sodium chloride solution. Wide differences between the alloys were noted not only in their cracking rates but also in their responses to similar loads and environments. Specimen thickness was found to have an important effect on stress corrosion susceptibility of the titanium alloys. Many coupons of specific titanium alloys had significant subsurface crack growth without visible surface growth. For these alloys, no precise threshold for stress corrosion cracking could be defined.

Designed for teaching: Small two pump set to demonstrate series and parallel system

A range of small self‐contained hydraulic machine test sets are now available which permit small groups of students to obtain the usual performance characteristics of pumps and turbines with some ease‐though at the expense of efficiency due to scale effects. As most lecture courses include the application of pumps to systems as well as the basic considerations affecting pump performance, it was felt that a layout that allowed the student to combine two pumps in series and then in parallel would introduce him to the hydraulic considerations involved as well as give a more flexible piece of equipment that would permit these tests and a performance test to be conducted (for the basic performance curves would have to be produced first). The apparatus evolved is described, and skeleton laboratory instructions are attached as an appendix. When two similar pumps are connected in series, the fluid passes through each in turn, and the total head produced is approximately double that of one pump as illustrated in figure 1. When two similar pumps are connected in parallel, the total head produced is that of one pump, but the flow is approximately doubled, as shown in figure 2. Figure 3 is a diagrammatic layout of the hydraulic system. The apparatus consists basically of two similar pumps A and B which can be run as single units, connected and operated in series, or connected and run in parallel as will be seen from figure 3, the valves 2 and 4 are closed when series operation is desired, and flow controlled by valve 6; when operation in parallel is required valve 3 is closed, all others being open. A single sump tank is provided, flow measurement is achieved by simple volumetric means and pressure is measured by bourdon‐type gauges, a, b, c and d. The pumps are supplied by Stuart Turner with a duty of 50 feet at approximately 1300 gpm at 2900 rpm, they may operate at 1450 rpm or 2900 rpm, are provided with swinging stators for torque measurement and with a revolution counter for average speed determination. As will be seen from the appendix, the sequence of tests to be performed requires the student to obtain the basic performance characteristics of each pump at the two rotational speeds possible, and to compare them using the Similarity laws; then to test the pumps connected in series and parallel and to compare the performance obtained with that predicted. Figures 4 and 6 give some typical curves and show that the actual performances in series and parallel do not quite fulfil those predicted ignoring losses‐the student is required to consider the contributory factors in his discussion. The writer is grateful to Plint and Partners Limited for their co‐operation.

NaK用動的腐食試験装置の製作

From the results of static corrosion experiments, it was found that the stainless steels of types 304, 316, 347, and LCN155 can be used successfully as container materials for NaK. The present investigation was carried out to confirm the safe use of such materials under conditionz of dynamic corrosion as well as to get information on the technical difficulty in manufacturing an experimental NaK system. A system was designed to operate up to approximately 6OO deg C with type 347 stainless steel as piping. Heat was supplied by electric heater and removed by air cooler. A regenerative heat exchanger was provided to reduce the required power input; the pump used was of the a-c Faraday type. In this system, NaK was circulated at the rate of about 1OOg/sed, measured by d-c electromagnetic flow meter. An expansion tank and a sump tank were also provided. Resistance-type'' and impedance-type'' level indicators were used successfully. Wetting of the pipe surface was found to affect both the heat transfer of heat exchanger and the output voltage of the flowmeter. Wetting can be attributed to the reduction of oxides and precipitation of materials (oxide or others) on the pipe surface.