Proof of concept for the surveillance of a pressurized water reactor using muography: From nominal operation to accident conditions

Muography as a scanning method has enlarged its range of application in recent years thanks to the advances on the muon detection systems as well as in the associated analysis methods. Nowadays, muography has been used to study the internal structures of big objects in the fields of archaeology, volcanology, civil engineering or nuclear domain. Going further on the potential applications of muography, this work studies the potential of the technique for the dynamic surveillance of the water level inside a Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR), both during nominal operation and in the case of an accident, as well as the potential to localize the corium produced in the latter case. To do this, preliminary Monte Carlo simulations were conducted for a simplified model providing information for an ideal scenario. Then a proof of concept measurement was carried out at the VeRCoRs reactor building mock-up at EDF’s Renardières site. Both, simulations and experimental data, revealed the capability of muography to meet the outlined needs. Moreover, the experimental measurement demonstrated that the surveillance can be done without any prior information nor simulations for results interpretation.