A PC-based reactor core internals diagnostics and surveillance system

A PC-based two channel general spectral analysis system has been developed for the specific purpose of monitoring the magnitude and frequency of the movement of Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR), and Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) core internals, i.e. fuel (PWR/BWR), core barrel (PWR), instrument guide tubes (BWR), and thermal shield (PWR). The core-internals vibration monitoring system, which utilizes isolated noise signals from the ex-core and in-core neutron detectors, integrates an IBM Personal Computer with specially designed hardware for analog signal conditioning and data acquisition. This self-contained system incorporates general spectral analysis and specific core intervals applications software which has been field proven at numerous operating power reactor facilities. The software provides for data collection and reduction as well as display and hardcopy of the results. The system is applicable to many situations requiring two (or one) channel spectral analysis capabilities. Applications specific software is relatively easy to implement on the PC