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NN Asks: What have recent projects taught us about the move from analog to digital plant controls?
Thomas Burnelis
Transitioning in nuclear from the U.S. Navy to the commercial industry was always a goal for me, but stepping directly into a fully digital control room was a paradigm shift. Moving from the tactile, analog world of my military background to the data-rich environment of modern advanced reactors was jarring. Digital systems offer an unprecedented wealth of information, but unlocking that potential requires a fundamental shift in how we approach testing, commissioning, and startup.
Commissioning analog plants meant physical verification, such as lifting leads, injecting signals, and manually tweaking potentiometers to calibrate gains and offsets. Digital instrumentation and control (I&C) completely redefines this landscape. Today, nearly all plant data are available at our fingertips, but this brings the challenge of filtering an immense amount of data and system alarms. Troubleshooting has largely migrated from the field and into software, following digital signals from operator inputs to field devices.
A. Nobile, J. R. Wermer, R. T. Walters
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 21 | Number 2 | March 1992 | Pages 769-774
Material Properties | doi.org/10.13182/FST92-A29841
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Palladium and LaNi5-xAlx (x=0.30, 0.75, 0.85), which form reversible hydrides, are used for tritium processing and storage in the Savannah River Site (SRS) tritium facilities. As part of a program to develop technology based on the use of reversible metal hydrides for tritium processing and storage, the effects of aging on the thermodynamic behavior of palladium and LaNi4.25Al0.75 tritides are under investigation. During aging, the 3He tritium decay product remains in the tritide lattice and changes the thermodynamics of the tritium-metal tritide system. Aging effects in 755-day-aged palladium and 1423-day-aged LaNi4.25Al0.75 tritides will be reported. Changes in the thermodynamics were determined by measuring tritium desorption isotherms on aging samples. In palladium, aging decreases the desorption isotherm plateau pressure and changes the a-phase portion of the isotherm. Aging-induced changes in desorption isotherms are more drastic in LaNi4.25Al0.75. Among the changes noted are: (1) decreased isotherm plateau pressure, (2) increased isotherm plateau slope, and (3) appearance of deep-trapped tritium, removable only by exchange with protium or deuterium. Various processes occurring in the tritide lattice which might be responsible for the observed aging effects in palladium and LaNi4.25Al0.75 tritides will be discussed.
