The Use of Signal Coherence for Anomaly Detection in Nuclear Reactors

The theoretical background for the use of coherent detection in the determination of the existence of certain classes of anomalous behavior in nuclear reactors is developed. The analysis results in methods which can be useful for simulation of anomalous conditions in a power reactor by using normal power reactor noise combined with simulated anomalous conditions in a low power reactor. Scaling laws are derived which specify the transfer functions of electronic networks used to modify the signals from low power reactor experiments to make them compatible with the requirements for simulation. Preliminary experiments demonstrate procedures for the detection of simulated anomalies in low power reactors.