System for sensing uf6 gas leak in nuclear fuel manufacturing process
AssigneeKepco Nuclear Fuel Co., Ltd.
InventorsYoungmoon Bae, Seungchul Yang, Dongyong Kwak, Byungkuk Lee, Hyunkwang Cho, Junho Lee
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Abstract
A system for sensing a UF6 gas leak in a nuclear fuel manufacturing process is proposed. The system is configured to sense whether or not there is a UF6 gas leak by optically detecting UO2F2 in a solid state generated due to a reaction with outside air, and thus to allow prevention of damage to a detection apparatus by means of sensing in a non-contact manner whether or not there is a UF6 gas leak, and to realize extension of mechanical life and reduction of the maintenance and repair cost for the detection apparatus.
Claims8
A system for sensing a UF6 gas leak in a nuclear fuel manufacturing process, the system comprising:
- an autoclave provided with a cylinder, charged with uranium hexafluoride (UF6) in a solid state, disposed therein and with a nitrogen supply pipe and a nitrogen discharge pipe, through which nitrogen inflow and nitrogen discharge are accomplished, installed on one side and an opposite side, respectively, and vaporizing the UF6 inside the cylinder through heating the nitrogen inside the autoclave;
- and
- a detection unit configured to sense whether the UF6 is mixed with the nitrogen discharged after circulating inside the autoclave, thereby sensing whether the UF6 leaks inside the autoclave,
- wherein the detection unit generates UO2F2 and HF by allowing UF6 to react with outside air and comprises a measuring instrument, and optically sense the generated UO2F2 particles in a solid state, to allow non-contact UF6 leak detection to be made.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.