KEYWORDS: Temperature metrology, High temperature raman spectroscopy, Environmental sensing, Raman spectroscopy, Fiber optics sensors, Coating, Signal attenuation, Raman scattering, Temperature sensors, Fiber coatings, Temperature metrology, High temperature raman spectroscopy, Environmental monitoring, Optical fibers, Gold, Photodiodes, Fiber optics tests
Optical fiber temperature sensors using Raman effect are a promising technology for temperature mapping of nuclear power plant pipes. These pipes are exposed to high temperature (350 °C) and gamma radiations, which is a harsh environment for standard telecom fibers. Therefore metal coated fibers are to be used to perform measurement over 300 °C. Temperature variations can affect the attenuation of the metallic coated fiber before irradiation. The latter induces an extra attenuation, due to light absorption along the fiber by radiation-induced defects. The recombination of these defects can be strongly accelerated by the high temperature value. As backscattered Raman signal is weak it is important to test optical fibers under irradiation to observe how it gets attenuated. Different experiments are described in this conference paper: two in situ irradiation campaigns with different dose rates at, both ambient and high temperature. We observe that the tested off-the-shelf metallic coated fibers have a high attenuation under irradiation. We also noticed the fact that thermal annealing plays a massive role in the +300 °C temperature range.
Photons with energies above 6 MeV can be used to detect small amounts of nuclear material inside large cargo containers. The method consists in using an intense beam of high-energy photons (bremsstrahlung radiation) in order to induce reactions of photofission on actinides. The measurement of delayed neutrons and delayed gammas emitted by fission products brings specific information on localization and quantification of the nuclear material. A simultaneous measurement of both of these delayed signals can overcome some important limitations due to matrix effects like heavy shielding and/or the presence of light elements as hydrogen. We have a long experience in the field of nuclear waste package characterization by photon interrogation and we have demonstrated that presently the detection limit can be less than one gram of actinide per ton of package. Recently we tried to extend our knowledge to assess the performance of this method for the detection of special nuclear materials in sea and air freights. This paper presents our first results based on experimental measurements carried out in the SAPHIR facility, which houses a linear electron accelerator with the energy range from 15 MeV to 30 MeV. Our experiments were also modeled using the full scale Monte Carlo techniques. In addition, and in a more general frame, due to the lack of consistent data on photonuclear reactions, we have been working on the development of a new photonuclear activation file (PAF), which includes cross sections for more than 600 isotopes including photofission fragment distributions and delayed neutron tables for actinides. Therefore, this work includes also some experimental results obtained at the ELSA electron accelerator, which is more adapted for precise basic nuclear data measurements.
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