Control of the integrity of the fuel elements and the 30 years old reactor tank at the Dalat nuclear research reactor

The aluminum tank of the Dalat nuclear research reactor is three decades old. Recent underwater optical inspection has revealed a number of corrosion spots, causing a certain concern about its longevity. Concerning the fuel assemblies of the Russian type VVR-M2 a regular radioactivity monitoring of air and reactor coolant water has not observed so far any anomaly related to the leakage of fission products. However, with more than 11,000 operating hours at nominal power since 1984 some fuel assemblies are now approaching the last stage of their lifetime and early detection of fuel failure must be paid due attention. Appropriate measures have been taken to maintain as good as possible the parameters of the primary coolant water during reactor shut-down periods, especially in the stagnant zones of the pool. Routine low-level measurements of fission products allow the early detection of anomaly leakage of the whole core as minor as 0.03 mCi/h of Xe-135 released into the pool water. Accurate account of the pool water loss and replenishment ensures the detection of invisible water leakage through the aluminum tank as low as 10 liters/week. Results of corrosion products monitoring show a slight increasing trend of corrosion rate of the whole primary coolant system. However from these data it is hard to conclude about the development status of the corrosion observed optically in the reactor tank.(Authors)(4 Fig. 4 Tables)