Technical Development of Gamma Scanning for Irradiated Fuel Rod after Upgrade of System in Hot-cell

Non-destructive test system was installed at hot-cell(M1) in IMEF(Irradiated Materials Examination Facility) more than 10 years ago for the diametric measurement and gamma scanning of fuel rod. But this system must be needed to be remodeled for the effective operations. In 2006, the system was upgraded for 3 months. The collimator bench can be movable with horizontal direction(x-direction) by motorized system for sectional gamma scanning and 3-dimensional tomography of fuel rod. So, gamma scanning for fuel rod can be detectable by x, y and rotation directions. It may be possible to obtain the radioactivities with radial and axial directions of pellet. This system is good for the series experiments with several positions. Operation of fuel bench and gamma detection program were linked each other by new program tools. It can control detection and bench moving automatically when gamma inspection of fuel rod is carried out with axial or radial positions. Some of electronic parts were added in PLC panel, and operating panel was re-designed for the remote control. To operate the fuel bench by computer, AD converter and some I/O cards were installed in computer. All of software were developed in Windows-XP system instead of DOS system. Control programs were made by visual-C language. After upgrade of system, DUPIC fuel which was irradiated in HANARO research reactor was detected by gamma scanning. The results were good and operation of gamma scanning showed reduced inspection time and easy control of data on series of detection with axial positions. With consideration of ECT(Eddy Current Test) installation, the computer program and hardware were set up as well. But ECT is not installed yet, so we have to check abnormal situation of program and hardware system. It is planned to install ECT in 2007