Experiments of Anomaly Detection System of a Reactor Core

An anomaly detection system (ADS) for a reactor core was installed in the Japan Materials Testing Reactor and its performance was tested. The ADS has the following functions:

1. to detect anomalous conditions in the reactor core by use of a reactivity balance method
2. to identify the cause of a detected anomalous condition by comparing signal pattern with predetermined reference signal patterns.

The experimental results show that the ADS detects about 2 cents worth of reactivity of anomaly in the reactor core and identifies nine different causes of anomaly within 1 sec after sampling reactor signals.