Electrical connectors for nuclear service: test program results

Two types of electrical connectors, designed and fabricated at PNL, were tested by HEDL under conditions simulating severe external environments of the intended test reactor service. One connector was designed to connect 3 to 4 stainless sheathed two conductor cables in a PWR environment (6500F, 2500 psig). The second connector was designed to connect several (10 to 20) metal sheathed cables outside the PWR environment to a flexible cable. The testing performed on the connector was designed to allow determining the amounts of interfering signal added to the sensor circuit by the addition of a connector. These tests included ac coupling into dc circuits, ac coupling with other ac circuits and dc coupling into other dc circuits. These tests were carried out both at room ambient and at 6500F in the laboratory and autoclave for the high pressure, high temperature connector and only in the laboratory for the low pressure/temperature connectors. The results of these test are described