Development of Radiation Endurance Ultrasonic Transducer for Nuclear Reactors

Nuclear system plays an important part in today’s technology and their advancement. Due to increasing concern of safety there is demand of sensor which can help in reliably running the nuclear system and prevent catastrophe. Department of Energy (DOE) has shown interest and grown support in the improvements and advancement of advanced sensors and instrumentations which can directly support existing power reactors, material test reactors and other similar systems. X-wave Innovations, Inc. (XII), along with Idaho National Lab (INL), Orano and TechOpp Consulting Inc. (TOC), is developing a Radiation Endurance Ultrasonic Transducer (REUT) for nuclear applications. The ongoing REUT development is based on selecting radiation resilient materials, material engineering and harnessing knowledge of acoustic propagation in materials. Our approach combines the concepts of material engineering and acoustic propagation in materials, delivering an ultrasonic transducer which is resilient to radiation and can operate in other harsh conditions such as high temperatures. Furthermore, we will use REUT technology to develop ultrasonic sensor to support instrument and control for nuclear applications. In Phase I, XII performed detail design studies using simulations and precision machining task and developed two REUT prototypes. The performance characteristic of the developed REUT matches the traditional off-the-shelf ultrasonic transducers. In phase II, XII will further extend the ongoing development of the REUT technology to meet application need of nuclear reactors and other nuclear applications. XII will further developed ultrasonic sensors using REUT technology to measure temperature, pressure, fluid level, etc. The primary consideration will be given to the making the ultrasonic sensors compact, having high sensitivity and long performance life. The developed REUT and REUT based ultrasonic sensors will be tested thoroughly in relevant environment, such as, conducting high temperature irradiation test at MITR to meeting TRL 7-8 specifications. Furthermore, XII will participate with subcontractors for licensing the REUT technology to be used in nuclear applications. XII has a clear transitioning plan for the radiation endurance ultrasonic transducer (REUT) technology. The outcomes of the ongoing REUT development are ultrasonic transducers and ultrasonic sensors, which will have a high tolerance and long life expectancy in high temperatures, and other harsh conditions including extreme radiation. The potential application of the REUT technology is in nuclear industry, such as, nuclear reactors (both domestic and military), nuclear waste management, nuclear war heard, handling radioactive materials used national security, medicine and research. The ongoing development of REUT will find application in non-nuclear field as well, such as, chemical processing, metal industry, refinery, oil & petroleum industry, charge particle accelerators etc. We anticipate the social and economic benefits of the proposed system are enormous.