RADIATION MONITORING DEVICES, INC. — Department of Energy SBIR Phase I: C54-37b

Description

Statement of the Problem: Reactor cores in commercial power plants produce spent nuclear fuel, which is discharged every 3-4 years. There is currently a pressing need to safely store spent fuel for long periods (decades to centuries) using dry storage systems. Long duration storage requires comprehensive monitoring to ensure safe conditions as the waste decays. The proposed system is a sensor array coupled to a readout backbone for power, control, and data transfer. It must withstand the canister loading process and depending on the location in the canister, temperatures up to 400?, and radiation levels as high as 500 Grays/hour can be present. The system will be powered by an external power source and possess the ability to communicate through the walls of a sealed steel canister and concrete cask. Statement of How the Problem is Being Addressed: Although the proposed system is derived from an existing prototype for monitoring Krypton-85 developed by the proposer, it will include multiple sensors (pressure, temperature, humidity, etc.). There is a lack of commercial sensors capable of monitoring the integrity of spent fuel from within the canister environment. This effort will identify appropriate high-temperature, radiation-hard sensors, test them in relevant environments and conduct research and development to interface these sensors with the proposed platform. Phase I Plan: During Phase I, the performance of several commercial off the shelf sensors will be tested to determine which, if any, can withstand the conditions inside a spent fuel canister. The candidate sensors will be tested over the required range of temperatures in an environmental chamber and a record of their performance after several radiation exposures will be taken. The best performing candidate sensors will be integrated with a wireless power and data transfer system, and their functionality will be demonstrated on a breadboard, at room temperature, in a mocked-up piece of spent fuel canister. At the end of Phase I, a design for Phase II will be provided which includes a radiation-hard, high-temperature bus that the sensor system will plug into and integrate with the power and data transfer system. Commercial Applications: The primary application of the proposed wireless sensing and transmission system is the ability to secure sealed nuclear waste storage casks, thereby detecting accidental leaks and spills and enabling intervention to prevent devastating health, environmental, and financial effects for decades and centuries to come. Other potential applications include tracking parts during the decommissioning of power plants and non-proliferation. In addition, several applications in the nuclear field and other fields with high-temperature/high-radiation environments, like space, would benefit from the proposed technology, either as a whole system or from the individual components.