Nuclear reactor containment spray testing system
AssigneeWestinghouse Electric Corp.
InventorKenneth Rubin
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for periodic testing of a spray system in a nuclear reactor containment. The method includes injecting a gas into the spray system such that a temperature differential exists between the gas and the containment atmosphere. Scanning the gas jet discharged from the spray nozzles with infrared apparatus then provides a real-time thermal image on a monitor, such as a cathode ray tube, and detects any partially or completely blocked nozzles in the spray system. The scanning may be performed from the containment operating deck.
Claims1
A method for testing a containment spray system in a containment structure of a nuclear reactor plant, said containment structure having an internal containment atmosphere and said spray system comprising spray nozzles flow connected to flow conduits positioned within said atmosphere, said method comprising:
- a. cooling said gas to a temperature at least 20 Fahrenheit degrees less than the temperature of said containment atmosphere;
- b. injecting said cooled gas into said flow conduits such that said gas flows through said conduits to at least some of said nozzles, completely through said some nozzles, and is discharged from each of said some nozzles as a gas jet into said containment atmosphere, each said gas jet being cooler than said atmosphere;
- and
- c. scanning each said gas jet with an infrared thermal detection device, said device including a real time thermal image producing monitor, whereby a real time thermal image discharge pattern of each said gas jet within said atmosphere is detected as a result of the difference in temperature between each said gas jet and said containment atmosphere.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.