Fires in nuclear industry: towards real-time quantification of wall aerosol deposit
Year: 2026
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: A significant fire hazard might arise as soon as TBP (Tributyl phosphate) and HTP (Hydrogenated tetrapropylene) are used. This is actually the case in the PUREX (Plutonium Uranium Refining by Extraction) process which aims to recover and purify uranium and plutonium from spent fuel. In this specific fire configuration, potential release of radioactive and toxic substances under aerosol form into the environment can be encountered. Among the various parameters required to estimate the quantity of aerosols potentially released into the environment in a fire event, the aerosol fraction deposited on walls of fire-affected rooms is a key component. Accurate measurement of this parameter is crucial for improving fire safety and radiological risk management in nuclear fuel reprocessing facilities. Obtaining reliable data on aerosol deposition requires the development of appropriate metrological and numerical/predictive tools. To this end, a dynamic multi-sensor device has been designed for real-time aerosol deposition measurement. It combines a resistive sensor for aerosol particle collection and a non-dispersive infrared CO₂ sensor for detecting CO₂ emitted during the regeneration of deposited aerosols. The electrical response of the resistive sensor was characterized using TBP/HTP aerosol samples at the laboratory scale, and a 10 V polarization voltage was selected for real-time monitoring. A prototype of the multi-sensor system was then developed for large-scale fire tests. In parallel, an artificial intelligence (AI)-based expert system was developed to predict the airborne fraction of radionuclide aerosols that do not deposit on walls during a solvent (TBP/HTP) fire. Seven million calculations were performed with the two-zone fire code SYLVIA, developed at ASNR, to build the knowledge base of this expert system. These measurements and prediction tools will be deployed during full-scale fire tests to be carried out at the ASNR PLUTON facility in 2027.
Source: HAL
Language: English
Subfield: Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7205788331