Report on Current IAEA I&C Projects For Research Reactors May By Charles R Morris RR Section of NEFW

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1 Report on Current IAEA I&C Projects For Research Reactors May 2013 By Charles R Morris RR Section of NEFW

2 Personal History

3 The IAEA Research Reactor Section IAEA has 6 main departments with a total of 25 Divisions The Department of Nuclear Energy has two divisions the Division of Nuclear Power and the Division of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology The RRS is one of 3 sections in the Division of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology There are four Projects in the RRS, Utilisation, Infrastructure Fuel Cycle Issues, and Operations & Maintenance. Instrumentation and Control Issues are part of O&M Project # , (or project 70 in our new Oracle based Business Management system)

4 I&C Projects Prepare a Technical Report on Digital Instrumentation and Control Systems for new facilities and modernisation of existing Research Reactors Technical Cooperation Support with Developing Member States regarding Digital Upgrades and new Facilities Coordinate a CRP on Improved I&C Maintenance Techniques using the Plant Computer Coordinate a CRP on on-line monitoring systems for Research Reactors OMARR Operations and Maintenance Assessment of Research Reactors

5 Report on the RR Digital I&C Tech Doc The first meeting was held 7 th -11 th March 2011 and concluded with a draft skeleton, and work assigned to each consultant (4). Second consultancy was held 14 th to 17 th of June, 2011 and the document was fully fleshed out but required consolidation. A consultant was hired to consolidate and unify the draft document A Technical Meeting was held th of May 2012 where the document was discussed, comments received, and Member States made presentations on their digital upgrades, proposed upgrades, or new facilities. The document is now being formatted for IAEA acceptance and will comprise the consultants work with the upgrade examples from the member states. Final document issuance is hoped for the first quarter of 2013

6 Current I&C Digital Upgrades Supported by NEFW s RR Section for Developing Member States Uzbekistan 10MW WWRM Digital RPS and Nucleonics upgrade. Supporting Member State in FAT Support in specifications for new field sensors Kazakhstan 6MW WWRM Digital Upgrade, Nucleonics and CR Drives Bid Review and support Malaysia 1MW Triga Mark 2 Digital Upgrade Bids had been obtained but not enough funds to award a contract IAEA has helped in rewriting of the technical specification and is on standby for support Mexico 1MW Triga Mark III Digital Upgrade IAEA has been asked to review the technical specification and is on standby for additional support

7 Analogue to Digital

8 Typical Issues in Analogue to Digital Conversions Space requirements usually okay for computers processors, main control room panels but field cabling, sensors may be difficult Dealing with an uncooperative regulatory body Design basis/sar requirements Mindset of staff regarding computer screen interfaces and upgrade to voting logic and additional sensors Additional sensors may require new thermowells and new tap in points how to proceed? Configuration Management, drawings specifications, environmental & seismic issues

9 AN Unusual Issue in a Refurbishment

10 Problems with Field Cabling

11 From Valves (Tubes) to Processors

12 Field Sensor Issues

13 Wiring Issues (Configuration Management)

14 Improved Instrumentation and Control (I&C) Maintenance Techniques for Research Reactors using the Plant Computer CRP# T34001 The CRP will result in guideline documents for research reactors to replace time based calibrations with condition based calibrations. Additionally benchmark results and a database of baseline signals, data, and information for the benefit of the worldwide research reactor community in improving plant maintenance methodology will be produced. Based on similar wortk completed for NPPs CRP was approved in February 2011 and the first Consultancy was held Nov 30th to Dec 2nd 2011 with 8 participants Next CSM will be held in the 4 th quarter of this year with hopefully 12 participants.

15 Condition monitoring and incipient failure detection of rotating equipment at Research Reactors CRP # T34003 Improved knowledge of equipment, system and plant conditions can be exploited using OLM to improve operational availability and safety by: Identification of abnormal plant conditions through monitoring sensor interrelationships Condition assessment of plant components and early warning of sensor or component degradation Compression of the information from a multitude of sensors that may need to be reviewed instead of the currently identified sensors of the control and safety systems Faster actions in response to abnormal conditions identified due to the above compression of information This CRP has been designated to start with the completion of CRP T34001

16 Operations and Maintenance Assessment of Research Reactors OMARR OMARR is an IAEA service to provide advice and assistance to Member States to improve their operational and maintenance (O&M) practises by peer to peer reviews thereby optimising availability, reliability and the application of human and financial resources throughout their facilities operational life cycle, from commissioning through to decommissioning. International Research Reactor Operational and Maintenance Network ( IRON ) will be the co-ordinator of this service once the network has been established. Although not specifically for I&C activities an OMARR assessment can be used to suggest improvements in I&C maintenance areas and/or suggest I&C changes for improved plant operations.

17 Research Reactor Section I hope you have a productive meeting and a pleasant stay in Vienna. Thank you C.Morris@iaea.org