Patent ID: 6430247
Filing Date: 2002-08-06
Classification: G21C,Y02E

Abstract:
A Method of monitoring at least one operating parameter of a nuclear reactor core of a nuclear power station unit, the core having a number of juxtaposed fuel assemblies arranged over the height of the core, the process comprising the steps:introducing a set of detectors, each having a string of spaced stacked detector units, into at least some of the fuel assemblies of the core for measuring neutron flux, the detectors being fixed and distributed over the height of the core; during operation of the nuclear reactor, at specified time intervals: a) measuring the spatial distribution of the neutron flux using a subset of neutron flux detectors selected from the set of detectors introduced into the fuel assemblies of the core to obtain measurement signals, the number of detectors of the subset being at most equal to 15% of the number of fuel assemblies in the core; b) employing a neutron flux calculation code in conjunction with measurements provided by the subset detectors to obtain an instantaneous neutron flux distribution throughout the entire core in the form of a set of neutron flux values at points distributed throughout the core; c) calculating at east one core operating parameter from the instantaneous neutron flux distribution; and d) raising an alarm if at least one operating parameter is outside a preselected range.