Development of Highly Reliable Power and Communication System for Essential Instruments Under Severe Accidents in NPP (original) (raw)

A Robust Wireless Communication System for Electromagnetically Harsh Environments of Nuclear Facilities

2017

Wireless sensors could play a significant role in safety, efficiency, and reliability of instrumentation and control process in current and next generation nuclear power reactors. While conventional narrowband wireless sensors have successfully been used in numerous industrial applications, the RF propagation challenges posed by the heavy metallic and cluttered environment of Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs) has prevented their use in such operations. These challenges include: RF propagation in harsh (reflective, absorptive, cluttered) environments, data security issues, and RF interference to and from other devices in a nuclear reactor. In this introductory paper, first we address how Ultra-wideband (UWB) technology can provide a viable solution for the signal propagation issues in such electromagnetically harsh environments. Second, we present a novel UWB remote powering scheme that allows for battery-free operation of sensors to increase their lifetime. We finalize the paper by presen...

Mobile Post-Emergency Monitoring System for Nuclear Power Plants

2016

In this paper, a concept of designing the post-emergency system for monitoring the equipment and territory of nuclear power plant after a severe accident was developed. Power and communications network lines are found out as the most vulnerable ones during the accident monitoring, and selfdescriptiveness and survivability and veracity are recognized as system basic parameters. To ensure the self-descriptiveness it’s proposed to equip measurement and control modules with backup wireless communication channels and deploy the repeaters network based on drones. To provide the survivability modules possess the backup power battery, and repeaters appear in the appropriate places after the accident. Moreover an optimization of drone’s location is proposed according to the minimum energy consumption criterion. To ensure the veracity it’s expected to design the noise-immune protocol for message exchange and archiving and self-diagnostics of all system components. Formulas for estimating the ...

Design Considerations for Secure Wireless Sensor Communication Systems in Harsh Electromagnetic Environments of Nuclear Reactor Facilities

Nuclear Technology, 2018

Wireless sensors can potentially play a significant role in safety, efficiency, and reliability of the instrumentation and control process in current and next generation nuclear power reactors. While conventional narrowband wireless sensors have shown a certain level of success in some nuclear power plants (NPPs), the radio frequency (RF) propagation challenges posed by the heavy metallic and cluttered environment of NPPs has prevented their widespread use in such operations. These challenges include RF wave propagation in harsh (reflective, absorptive, cluttered) environments, data security issues, and RF interference to and from other devices in the vicinity of a nuclear reactor core. In this paper, first we address how ultrawideband (UWB) RF technology can complement the narrowband (i.e., WiFi) solutions that have been used in some NPPs by providing an alternative solution in addressing the signal propagation issues in such electromagnetically harsh environments. Second, we discu...

ZigBee Wireless Sensor Network for Radiation Monitoring at Nuclear Facilities

ZigBee Wireless Sensor Network for Radiation Monitoring at Nuclear Facilities, 2013

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) is increasing its market share in many industrial, health, surveillance and nuclear applications. This paper describes the design of a WSN that allows smart real time monitoring of radiation levels at nuclear facilities. We develop a local low cost prototype of wireless sensor node equipped with a radiation sensor. The wireless node based on ZigBee technology and Arduino platform, it is implemented using TI CC2530 chips. The radiation sensor is based on Geiger Muller tube (GMT) as a reliable detector for the radioactive particulates in the gaseous effluent vented from nuclear facilities. The WSN allows the operators to record and control the radiation levels emitted to the environment and it is supported with warning system for the early detection of radiation release. We evaluated the performance of the radiation sensor by the accuracy of the readings while the wireless link performance is represented in terms of the Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI), the Link Quality Indicator (LQI) and the Packet Reception Ratio (PRR).

A Cost-Efficient Radiation Monitoring System for Nuclear Sites: Designing and Implementation

Intelligent Automation & Soft Computing, 2022

Radiation monitoring is essential for examining and refraining the unwanted situations in the vicinity of nuclear plants as high levels of radiation are quite dangerous for human beings. Meanwhile, Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are proved to be an auspicious candidate to address that issue. Actually, WSNs are pretty beneficial to monitor an area with the aim of avoiding undesirable situations. In this paper, we have designed and implemented a cost-efficient radiation and the temperature monitoring system. We have used ZigBee to develop the sensor nodes, and the sensor nodes are instilled with the radiation and the temperature sensors. In addition, the Geiger Muller Tube (GM Tube), which is usually a reliable detector to monitor nuclear sites, is used to monitor the radiations. The designed system consists of two sensor nodes and the main node. The experimental results validate the designed system, where the communication between the nodes and the main node along with the inter-nodal communication are examined in order to ensure the smooth-running operation of the designed system.