NON-INVASIVE IN-SITU IMAGING OF INTERIOR OF NUCLEAR REACTORS

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide techniques, systems and devices for non-invasive monitoring and imaging of a reactor core inside a nuclear reactor using muon detector arrays.SOLUTION: A method is configured to: place a first muon detector array 106 that is vertically configured along a vertical plane substantially parallel to a first wall of an enclosure on a first side of the enclosure 104 of a nuclear reactor; place a second muon detector array 108 that is configured vertically along a vertical plane substantially parallel to a second wall of the enclosure on a second side of the enclosure opposite to the first side; collect a hit signal representing a cosmic-ray muon passing through the nuclear reactor, and each of the first and second muon detector arrays from both of the first and second muon detectors; process the collected hit signal to generate an image of a reactor core including an image of a nuclear fuel; and determine a location of the nuclear fuel 103 in the reactor core 102 and a state of the reactor core on the basis of the image of the nuclear fuel.