20F Power Measurement for Generation IV Sodium Fast Reactors

International audienceThe Phénix nuclear power plant has been a French Sodium Fast Reactor (SFR) prototype producing electrical power between 1973 and 2010. The power was monitored using ex-core neutron measurements. This kind of measurement instantly estimates the power but needs to be often calibrated with the heat balance thermodynamic measurement. Large safety and security margins have then been set not to derive above the nominal operating point. It is important for future SFR to reduce this margin and working closer to the nominal operating point. This work deals with the use of delayed gamma to measure the power. The main activation product contained in the primary sodium coolant is the 24Na which is not convenient for neutron flux measurement due to its long decay period. The experimental study done at the Phénix reactor shows that the use of 20F as power tagging agent gives a fast and accurate power measurement closed to the thermal balance measurement thanks to its high energy photon emission (1.634 MeV) and its short decay period (11 s)