| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 297100 | Nuclear Engineering and Design | 2013 | 7 Pages |
The energy produced in Fast Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR) is transferred to feed water for generating superheated steam in once-through shell and tube type counter current steam generator (SG). Sodium and water/steam flow in shell and tube side respectively are separated by thin-walls of ferritic steel tubes. Material defects in these tubes can lead to leakage of water/steam into sodium, resulting in sodium water reactions leading to undesirable consequences. Detection of a leak at its inception, therefore, is important for the safe and reliable operation of the reactor. Monitoring hydrogen in sodium, produced during reaction of sodium with the leaked water or steam is a convenient way to accomplish this. Nickel diffuser based instrumentation has been developed for real time detection of steam generator leak of FBTR at Kalpakkam. Though the performance of the system has been satisfactory, the failure of Nickel diffuser cannot be ruled out. This paper deals with the development and deployment of a miniature Mutual Inductance (MI) type leak detector for detection of sodium leak resulting from failure/rupture of the Nickel diffuser tubes in the SG leak detection system in FBTR.
► Development and commissioning of SG leak detection system for FBTR. ► Performance satisfactory except for a sodium leak due to failure of nicked diffuser. ► Available sodium leak detection systems explored. ► Mutual inductance leak detector designed and developed for sodium leak detection. ► System was tested and deployed in FBTR with satisfactory performance.
