Speaker
Marco VAN UFFELEN
(SCK)
Description
Periodic maintenance operations during shut down of
the future International Thermonuclear Experimental
Reactor (ITER) will have to be performed in a severe
nuclear environment, exposing operating tools inside
the reactor vessel to temperatures ranging from 50°C
to 200°C, with total doses that can reach MGy levels.
Radiation tolerant remote-handling technology will
therefore play a major role during these maintenance
tasks. Connecting remotely operated actuators and
sensors with the control room requires bulky and
shielded umbilicals. Their management could be eased
by applying radiation tolerant communication links with
multiplexing capabilities, for which fibre-optic technology
is considered as a potential EMI-free solution.
We present the main results obtained at SCK•CEN over
the past years towards the development of radiation
tolerant fibre-optic communication links, including the
individual optical components such as optical fibres and
power couplers, laser diodes and photodetectors, as
well as their associated electronic driver circuits.
Author
Marco VAN UFFELEN
(SCK)
Co-authors
Mr
F. Berghmans
Mr
P. Leroux
