Industrial tests of rhodium self-powered detectors: the Golfech 2 experimentation

In co-operation with Electricite de France (EDF), FRAMATOME has been testing two in-core strings which are equipped with rhodium self-powered detectors (SPDs) in the Golfech Unit 2 reactor (1300 MW, 4L plant) since August 1997. The rhodium SPDs and the strings which support them were designed and built by the US FRAMATOME subsidiary FRAMATOME-COGEMA-FUEL (FCF). The rhodium signals and some other plant parameters are acquired through the use of a specific device designed by the CEA (Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique) and are processed off-line by FRAMATOME. This demonstration test is planned to last until mid-2000. The following presentation is focused on the results obtained during the first demonstration cycle (from 08/97 to 12/98). The tests that have been conducted consist of checking the rhodium depletion and of comparing the rhodium signals to the movable probes. In order to compensate for the delay in the rhodium signals, a deconvolution algorithm has also been tested. Up to now, the results are very satisfactory and a future large scale industrial application is being discussed with the EDF. The main objective of the next experimentation phase is to test - under industrial conditions - a prototype of an on-line monitoring unit known as the Partial In-Core Monitoring System (PIMS). This system will include 16 rhodium in-core strings and will use an on-line 3-D core model. (authors)