Development of super radiation-resistant cables

With the development of the nuclear power industry, the construction of nuclear fuel cycling facilities is coming to the forefront. Compared with nuclear power plants, the nuclear fuel cycling facilities tend to be subjected to higher radiation levels. The cables used for those facilities, therefore, must have high radiation resistance characteristics. Utilizing the technology developed for the cables of existing nuclear power plants, we have produced a flame retardant cable that can maintain sufficient flexibility even if exposed to radiation as high as 10 MGy. The features of this new cable include flame retardant ethylene-propylene rubber as the insulating material, improved radiatioin resistant characteristics through the addition of an anti-radiation material, and a special urethane elastomer as the sheath material, which high radiation resistance characteristics further improved by flame retardants and anti-radiation coagents. In this report we describe the radiation resistance characteristics of various cable materials and the effects of various radiation resistant agents as well as the characteristics of the newly developed extra-high radiation resistant cable. (author)