Page 19 - PR 2014 2016 09 Nuclear Reactors and Fuel Cycle

Nuclear Reactors and Fuel Cycle | Progress Report 263

System Design and Management to the fuel elements of the IEA- R1, in order
– System’s Engineering to improve the cooling conditions of the fuel
elements and, thus, improve the safety of the
IAEA-CRP: Nuclear Security Culture - Appli- IEA-R1 reactor.
cation of Systems Theoretic Process Analysis
(STPA) to evaluate the culture of security in Modernization of the reactor
nuclear installations and its effects on safe- control table IPEN / MB-01
ty. This work aims at practical applications
and will be done with the study of real cases This line of development aims to modernize
of incidents involving “insiders”. It will also some of the subsystems of the IPEN / MB-01
have applications in aspects of: Cyber Security, reactor that have become obsolete and diffi-
Physical Protection, Intruders and Terrorism. cult to maintain, making them suitable for the
advent of the design of the core exchange of
ITA Computer Department. Work aimed at rods with the fuel elements of the type Plate,
applying STPA for safety analysis in high risk providing adaptability to new experiments
industries such as nuclear and aeronautics. through its intrinsic reprogramming capabil-
Security aspects involving computerized con- ity, within the highest nuclear safety require-
trols, especially embedded software in the case ments. It consists in to develop a new digital
of aircraft and automated controls in nucle- system for control rod drive (FIgure 26).
ar plants (activity being formalized), will be
studied.

Collaboration with CTMSP. Study of the ef-
fects of electromagnetic interference on the
safety of nuclear installations (activity under
analysis).

Development of a new fuel element Figure 26. Digital system for control rod drive.
“Dummy” Pressure and Flow
Measurement Device DMPV 2 Experimental Analysis of Critical
Velocity in Flat Plate Fuel Element

In the early 2000s CEN, in partnership with for Nuclear Research Reactors
the CCN, designed and built a DUMMY Fuel
Element for Pressure and Flow Measurement The fuel elements of a MTR (Material Testing
(DMPV-1), which allowed a better understand- Reactor) type nuclear reactor are mostly com-
ing of the flow distribution in the IEA-R1 re- posed of aluminum-coated fuel plates contain-
actor core and in the Cooling channels of the ing the core of uranium silica (U Si ) dispersed
3 2
fuel elements. in an aluminum matrix. These plates have a
thickness of the order of millimeters and are
Based on the results obtained with the DMPV-1, much longer in relation to their thickness. They
once again CEN, in partnership with the CCN, are arranged in parallel in the assembly form-
is initiating the design and construction of ing the fuel element channels through which
a new DUMMY fuel element (DMPV-2) with there is a flow of the coolant (light water or
the aim of proposing simple modifications heavy water). This configuration, combined