Grant: Alliance Grants

Instrumentation and Control (I&C) systems play a major role in Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) operation and safety shutdown. As part of the I&C systems, control cables are used to deliver electrical energy and signals to control devices. After decades of operation, the integrity of cable conditions has become a growing concern. Cable failures have caused safety concerns and resulted in lost revenue and plant shutdowns. Current test methods to assess the condition of the wire insulation and the cable jackets require the cables to be de-energized and disconnected at both ends. Cable specialists have faced the issue of assessing the condition of cables that cannot be easily disconnected due to time constraints or safety concerns, when one end of the cable is in a high radiation zone or difficult to access area. The online condition monitoring methodologies to be developed through this research project will close this knowledge gap. This is particularly important for both plant life extensions and innovative I&C system design for Small Modular Reactors (SMR). The new methodology would provide station staff with more flexibility to plan cable condition monitoring tasks, save time during outages and improve the ability to test cables currently difficult to assess. These benefits would potentially reduce maintenance costs at the stations, increase reliability, and increase safety of plant workers by reducing the number of tasks performed close to high voltage equipment or in high radiation locations. Climate change is an important cross-cutting problem and has been an increasing concern over the years. Nuclear power plays an important role in creating a clean energy mix. With extensive nuclear plant operating experience, Canada is in a very good position to lead and contribute towards a more sustainable energy future. With more and more countries starting to refurbish their existing NPPs and come up with new SMR designs, Canada has a window of opportunity to lead the global nuclear industry. This research is expected to play a part towards this important leadership role.