Gamma Radiation Monitoring in the Primary Heat Transport Circuit

Heavy water contamination with fission products in the Primary Heat Transport Circuit (PHTC) of a nuclear power plant (NPP), due to the cladding failure of the fuel element, leads to an unsafe operation of the plant from the point of view of protection of personnel, population and environment. The resulting radioactive waste also makes the use of nuclear energy a sensitive subject. Therefore, these problems must be analysed and treated objectively, in order to choose the best solutions from a technological point of view that will allow a sustainable development of this form of energy. Based on these considerations, the paper addresses the issue of gamma radiation monitoring in PHTC based on gamma spectrometric analysis. The system presented in the paper was successfully implemented in Cernavoda NPP and was developed by the specialists of the Institute for Nuclear Research Pitesti. (author).