Development of fast reactor structural integrity monitoring technology using optical fiber sensors

Matsuba, Kenichi  ; Ito, Chikara   ; Kawahara, Hirotaka ; Aoyama, Takafumi 

Significant thermal stresses are loaded on the structures of sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR) due to high temperature and large temperature gradients associated with employing sodium coolant. Therefore, it is important to monitor the temperature variation and related stress on the cooling system piping in order to assure structural integrity. Structural integrity monitoring can be enhanced by an optical fiber sensor, which is capable of continuous or dispersed distribution measurements of various physical properties such as radiation dose, temperature, strain, displacement and acceleration. In the experimental fast reactor Joyo, displacement and vibration measurements of the primary cooling system have been carried out using Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors to evaluate the durability and measurement accuracy of FBG sensors in a high ray environment. The data were successfully obtained with no significant signal loss up to an accumulated ray dose of approximately 410Gy corresponding to 120EFPDs operation. Measured displacement of the piping support was nearly equal to the calculated thermal displacement. Measured vibration power spectra of the piping support were similar to those measured with a reference acceleration sensor. The measured results indicate that the FBG sensor is applicable for monitoring the displacement and vibration of fast reactor cooling system integrity in a high ray environment.