Development of Ceramic Humidity Sensor for the Korean Next Generation Reactor

Development of Ceramic Humidity Sensor for the Korean Next Generation Reactor

Leak-before-break(LBB) approach has been shown to be both cost effective and risk reductive when applied to high energy Piping in nuclear Power Plants. For the Korean Next Generation Reactor (KNGR) development, LBB application is considered for the Main Steam Line(MSL) piping inside containment. Unlike the primary system leakages, the MSL leak detection systems must be based on principles other than radioactivity measurements. Among humidity, heat and acoustic noise currently being considered as indicators of leakage, we explored humidity as an effective one and developed ceramic-based humidity sensor which can be qualified for LBB applications. The ceramic material, sintered and annealed MgCr$_2$O$_4$-TiO$_2$, is shown to increase its electrical conductivity drastically upon water vapor adsorption over the entire temperature range of interest. With this ceramic sensor specimen, we suggested installation-inside-the-piping method by which we can detect leakage more rapidly and sensitively. In this paper, we describe the progress in the development and characterization of ceramic humidity sensor for the LBB application to the MSL of KNGR.