Fiber optic sensing for nuclear applications: Challenges and opportunities
Abstract: Advanced instrumentation is a critical part of ensuring the safety and economics of the existing aging fleet of nuclear reactors as well as new reactor concepts, both of which would benefit from enhanced health monitoring capabilities to reduce operation and maintenance costs. Fiber optic sensors are promising candidates due to their small size, high accuracy, immunity to electromagnetic interference, and ability to perform spatially distributed measurements under relatively harsh environmental conditions. This presentation discusses potential applications of fiber optic sensors for nuclear energy applications as well as challenges to their deployment, which include radiation effects and methods for embedding or otherwise attaching sensors to nuclear reactor components.
Bio: Dr. Christian Petrie is a Senior R&D Staff member and Group Leader within the Nuclear Energy and Fuel Cycle Division at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. His research focuses on accelerating the development and eventual qualification of nuclear fuels, materials, and sensors by leveraging some of the unique capabilities that are available within the DOE national laboratory complex. He is responsible for the conception and commissioning of several unique separate-effects irradiation vehicles in the High Flux Isotope Reactor that target important phenomena specific to advanced nuclear fuels, fuel cladding materials, and sensors. Dr. Petrie is also a leading expert on fiber-optic sensors for nuclear applications, having demonstrated sensors for measuring spatially distributed temperature and strain, pressure, corrosion, gamma heating, and liquid level; embedded sensors in metal and ceramic materials using various additive manufacturing processes; and published many papers on the performance of fiber-optic sensors under extreme nuclear reactor–relevant environments. In total he has published >130 peer-reviewed articles in journals and conference proceedings as well as 6 US non-provisional patent applications. Some of his many honors and awards include receiving the US Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy’s Fuel Cycle R&D Excellence Award, the American Nuclear Society’s Landis Young Member Engineering Achievement Award, and serving as an Oppenheimer Science and Energy Leadership Program Fellow of the National Laboratory Director’s Council.