Determining water chemistry conditions in nuclear reactor coolants

Abstract

The chemistry of the process and coolant systems in water-cooled nuclear reactors is tightly controlled to minimise material degradation and, for some systems, to regulate reactor power. Tight control entails monitoring the systems and making appropriate adjustments. Online monitoring can be utilised where instruments are available but otherwise samples must be taken and measurements made offline. This paper reviews the current technologies for monitoring and sampling.

Keywords:

• water chemistry
• nuclear reactor coolant
• online instruments
• sampling water
• high-temperature measurement

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, the CANDU^® Owners Group and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada for support.