Jul 4 2014
MOHR Test and Measurement LLC (MOHR), a supplier of water level and void fraction instrumentation for nuclear and other industrial applications, announced that the first 24 channels of its EFP-IL Spent Fuel Pool (SFP) Instrumentation (SFPI) System have successfully passed Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT), on-schedule and witnessed by representatives from 10 different U.S. nuclear utilities.
The EFP-IL SFPI System FAT procedure includes demonstrations of all key system capabilities including water level measurement accuracy through more than 1000 ft. of coaxial cable. "We are proud of our hardware. No other system on the market can meet NRC accuracy requirements, much less comfortably exceed them, from a thousand feet away," said MOHR Chief Technologist Brandt Mohr. "This long range capability makes installation easy and improves reliability because you can put system electronics almost anywhere, including the plant control room."
Mohr says the EFP-IL SFPI System meets all requirements for SFPI established by U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Order EA-12-051, issued in response to the March 2011 Japan nuclear accident at Fukushima Dai-ichi. Spent fuel pool monitoring helps prevent exposure and overheating of spent nuclear fuel rods following damage to the spent fuel pool by earthquake or other beyond-design-basis external event (BDBEE). Mohr says overall it is currently supplying at least 42 SFPI channels, excluding spares, to monitor water level in at least 20 U.S. nuclear power plants, and is also anticipating multiple international installations.
About the EFP-IL SFPI System
The EFP-IL SFPI System utilizes MOHR's proprietary Electric Field Perturbation (EFP) guided-wave radar (GWR) technology, originally developed for NRC and Nuclear Navy applications, and is uniquely capable of accurately measuring water level through more than 1000 ft. (305 m) of coaxial cable. Remote monitoring helps protect system electronics from adverse conditions near the spent fuel pool that may occur as a result of BDBEE, for instance during the earthquake, tsunami, and hydrogen explosions that occurred at the Fukushima facility.
The panel-mount EFP-IL signal processor features a rugged weatherproof stainless-steel enclosure with integrated graphical display, data-logging capability, and redundant battery backup designed to provide at least 7 days of operation after loss of normal power. The EFP-IL is designed to connect to MOHR's rugged SFP-1 water level probe through standard coaxial cable. The instrument provides configurable K-type thermocouple, 2-4 wire RTD, Ethernet, USB, 4-20 mA, RS-232 serial, and alarm relay interfaces.
About MOHR
MOHR has developed innovative test and measurement instrumentation for commercial and military nuclear applications for nearly 30 years.