An Assessment of Persistent Acoustic Monitoring of a Nuclear Reactor during Full Power Generation

Edna S. Cárdenas; Samuel K. Takazawa; Milton A. Garcés; David L. Chichester; Riley D. Hunley; Chris D. Young

doi:https://doi.org/10.3390/acoustics5020025

An Assessment of Persistent Acoustic Monitoring of a Nuclear Reactor during Full Power Generation

Edna S. Cárdenas, Samuel K. Takazawa, Milton A. Garcés, David L. Chichester, Riley D. Hunley, Chris D. Young

Nuclear Nonproliferation

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

Persistent low-frequency (<180 Hz) acoustic detection took place within the boundaries of Oak Ridge National Laboratory to monitor full power operations of the High Flux Isotope Reactor. Three acoustic sensors were installed at distances of 69, 101, and 914 m from the northeast corner of the cooling towers to monitor and assess four reactor power generation cycles. Features were extracted from power spectral density calculations where data were collected during reactor on and off operations. Diverse spectral features were present during full reactor power, including a 21.4 Hz fundamental frequency and ascending harmonics. Using bandpass filters, these related frequencies were isolated and summed, and the root mean square energy was calculated. The method of isolating and summing characteristic features provided a significant improvement in identifying acoustic behavior related to reactor power when the raw signals were obscured by noise.
Keywords: nuclear reactor; persistent monitoring; cooling tower fans

Original language	American English
Pages (from-to)	429-443
Number of pages	15
Journal	Acoustics
Volume	5
Issue number	2
Early online date	Apr 28 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3390/acoustics5020025 https://doi.org/10.3390/acoustics5020025
State	Published - Apr 28 2023

Keywords

cooling tower fans
nuclear reactor
persistent monitoring

INL Publication Number

INL/JOU-22-69111
148925

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https://www.mdpi.com/2624-599X/5/2/25

Cite this

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title = "An Assessment of Persistent Acoustic Monitoring of a Nuclear Reactor during Full Power Generation",

abstract = "Persistent low-frequency (<180 Hz) acoustic detection took place within the boundaries of Oak Ridge National Laboratory to monitor full power operations of the High Flux Isotope Reactor. Three acoustic sensors were installed at distances of 69, 101, and 914 m from the northeast corner of the cooling towers to monitor and assess four reactor power generation cycles. Features were extracted from power spectral density calculations where data were collected during reactor on and off operations. Diverse spectral features were present during full reactor power, including a 21.4 Hz fundamental frequency and ascending harmonics. Using bandpass filters, these related frequencies were isolated and summed, and the root mean square energy was calculated. The method of isolating and summing characteristic features provided a significant improvement in identifying acoustic behavior related to reactor power when the raw signals were obscured by noise.Keywords: nuclear reactor; persistent monitoring; cooling tower fans",

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note = "Funding Information: This research was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Office of Proliferation Detection. Idaho National Laboratory is managed by the Department of Energy under contract number DE-AC07-05ID14517. M. Garces and K. Takazawa were also supported by the U.S. DOE NNSA under Award Numbers DE-NA0003920 (MTV) and DE-NA0003921 (ETI). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023 by the authors.",

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AU - Young, Chris D.

N1 - Funding Information: This research was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Office of Proliferation Detection. Idaho National Laboratory is managed by the Department of Energy under contract number DE-AC07-05ID14517. M. Garces and K. Takazawa were also supported by the U.S. DOE NNSA under Award Numbers DE-NA0003920 (MTV) and DE-NA0003921 (ETI). Publisher Copyright: © 2023 by the authors.

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N2 - Persistent low-frequency (<180 Hz) acoustic detection took place within the boundaries of Oak Ridge National Laboratory to monitor full power operations of the High Flux Isotope Reactor. Three acoustic sensors were installed at distances of 69, 101, and 914 m from the northeast corner of the cooling towers to monitor and assess four reactor power generation cycles. Features were extracted from power spectral density calculations where data were collected during reactor on and off operations. Diverse spectral features were present during full reactor power, including a 21.4 Hz fundamental frequency and ascending harmonics. Using bandpass filters, these related frequencies were isolated and summed, and the root mean square energy was calculated. The method of isolating and summing characteristic features provided a significant improvement in identifying acoustic behavior related to reactor power when the raw signals were obscured by noise.Keywords: nuclear reactor; persistent monitoring; cooling tower fans

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An Assessment of Persistent Acoustic Monitoring of a Nuclear Reactor during Full Power Generation

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