Review on Cortex by Jordan Gibbons

Name: Cortex
Item: Cortex
Rating: 5

August 28, 2018

CORTEX aims to address these challenges by developing an innovative core…

CORTEX aims to address these challenges by developing an innovative core monitoring technique that allows to detect anomalies in nuclear reactors, such as excessive vibrations of core internals, flow blockage, coolant inlet perturbations, etc. The technique will be mainly based on using the inherent fluctuations in neutron flux recorded by in-core and ex-core instrumentation, from which the anomalies will be differentiated depending on their type, location and characteristics. The method is non-intrusive and does not require any external perturbation of the system.
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Pros

In the future, this will represent an increasingly important challenge. Over 60% of the current fleet of nuclear reactors is composed of units that are more than 30 years old. As a result, operational problems are expected to be more frequent. In addition, the conservatism previously applied to the evaluation of safety parameters has been greatly reduced, thanks to the increased level of fidelity achieved by the current tools modelling the behaviour of nuclear reactors. Therefore, nuclear reactors are now operating more closely to their safety limits. Operational problems may be also accentuated by other factors, such as the use of advanced high-burnup fuel designs and core loadings.

Cons

The project will result in a deepened understanding of the physical processes involved. This will allow utilities to detect operational problems at a very early stage and to take the proper actions before such issues have any adverse effect on plant safety and reliability. With an ageing fleet of nuclear reactors utilising more challenging fuel assembly designs, core loadings, and operating more often in load-follow, new operational problems have been observed during the last decade and will become more frequent in the future. Through the detection and characterisation of anomalies, the availability of nuclear-generated electricity will be further improved.