A Self-Powered, Wireless Sensor System for Remote and Long-Term Monitoring of Internal Conditions of Spent Nuclear Fuel Dry-Storage Casks

A major concern with nuclear energy is the safe storage of the spent nuclear fuel before final disposal.A monitoring sensor located inside a storage cask to provide direct measurements of internal conditions is of particular interest to DOE.Conventional wireless sensors have inherent limitations because the stainless steel canister shields the RF signals from wireless sensors inside the canister to communicate with outside devices.In this proposal, X-wave Innovations, Inc.proposes a self-powered, wireless sensor system (SPWSS) capable of monitoring the internal conditions of stainless steel nuclear waste dry-storage casks and wirelessly transmitting the signal through the thick steel wall without any cable running through it.The proposed SPWSS approach is based on XII-developed acoustic wave sensor technologies.In Phase II, X-wave Innovations successfully built a SPWSS prototype system and demonstrated the abilities of the approach for simultaneously measuring multiple attributes (e.g., temperature, pressure, humidity, and hydrogen gas) inside a sealed stainless steel canister and wirelessly transmitting the measurement data through the thick steel wall without direct connection.For Phase IIB, X-wave Innovations will refine the prototype system design and development with improved hardware and software and integrate a SPWSS with a commercial dry-storage cask as an entry/showcase for commercialization.The proposed self-powered wireless sensor system provides an in-situ, reliable, accurate, and low-cost sensor technology for passive, remote, and long-term monitoring of the internal conditions of a nuclear fuel canister.This sensor technology can also be used to monitor internal conditions and prevent catastrophic failure of pressure vessels of nuclear reactors, mission-critical components in aerospace vehicles, chemistry and oil refinement industry to improve the reliability, reduce maintenance costs, and extend the service life of those systems while maintaining their safety and reliability.Many other industries and government agencies dealing with structural condition/health monitoring will directly benefit from this sensor technology.