AVAILABLE METHODS FOR FUNCTIONAL MONITORING OF DRY CASK STORAGE SYSTEMS Prepared for U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Contract NRC–HQ–12–C–02–0089 Prepared by Xihua He1 Roland Benke1 Yi-Ming Pan1 Leonard Caseres2 Pavan Shukla1 Ken Chiang* Roberto Pabalan3 Greg Willden2 David Vickers2 1Center for Nuclear Waste Regulatory Analyses San Antonio, Texas 2Southwest Research Institute® San Antonio, Texas 3U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board Arlington, Virginia November 2014 *Former employee at Southwest Research Institute CONTENTS Section Page FIGURES ...................................................................................................................................... v TABLES ....................................................................................................................................... vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................................. viii EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................. ix 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 1-1 1.1 Background ............................................................................................................... 1-1 1.2 Technical Information Needs of Dry Cask Storage System Structures, Systems, and Components ....................................................................................... 1-2 1.3 Objectives and Organization of the Report ................................................................ 1-6 2 TECHNIQUES FOR FUNCTIONAL MONITORING OF EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENTS AND DEGRADATION OF COMPONENTS OUTSIDE THE CONFINEMENT BOUNDARY ............................................................................................ 2-1 2.1 Temperature Monitoring ............................................................................................ 2-1 2.1.1 Thermocouples .............................................................................................. 2-2 2.1.2 Resistance Temperature Detectors ............................................................... 2-7 2.1.3 Radiation Thermometers ............................................................................. 2-10 2.1.4 Ultrasonic Temperature Measurement ........................................................ 2-13 2.1.5 Fiber Optic Temperature Sensors ............................................................... 2-15 2.1.6 Semiconductor Temperature Sensors ......................................................... 2-17 2.1.7 Thermistors .................................................................................................. 2-18 2.1.8 Johnson Noise Thermometers ..................................................................... 2-20 2.2 Humidity Monitoring ................................................................................................. 2-22 2.2.1 Capacitance-Based Humidity Sensors ........................................................ 2-22 2.2.1.1 Ceramic-Capacitance-Based Humidity Sensors............................ 2-25 2.2.1.2 Polymer-Capacitance-Based Humidity Sensors ............................ 2-27 2.2.2 Chilled-Mirror-Based Humidity Sensors ....................................................... 2-28 2.2.3 Resistance-Based Humidity Sensors .......................................................... 2-31 2.2.4 Fiber Optic Sensors ..................................................................................... 2-32 2.2.5 Leakage Monitoring Systems ...................................................................... 2-35 2.2.6 Psychrometers ............................................................................................. 2-37 2.3 Chloride Ion Monitoring for External Environment ................................................... 2-38 2.3.1 Conductivity-Based Soluble Salt Measurement Meters ............................... 2-39 2.3.2 Long-Period, Grating-Based Optical Sensor ............................................... 2-48 2.3.3 Fluorescence-Based Optical Sensor ........................................................... 2-50 2.3.4 High-Electron Mobility Transistor-Based Sensor ......................................... 2-52 2.3.5 Absorption Spectroscopy ............................................................................. 2-55 2.3.6 Quantum Dots .............................................................................................. 2-56 2.3.7 Electrochemical Sensors ............................................................................. 2-58 2.3.8 Electromechanical Sensors ......................................................................... 2-59 2.4 Microbially Influenced Corrosion Monitoring ............................................................ 2-61 2.4.1 Electrochemical Sensor ............................................................................... 2-61 2.4.2 Hydrogenase-Based Bioanalyzer ................................................................ 2-64 2.4.3 Sulfide-Oxidase-Based Biosensor ............................................................... 2-67 2.4.4 Culturing Methods ........................................................................................ 2-68 ii CONTENTS (continued) Section Page 2.5 Stress Corrosion Cracking Monitoring of Canister Body and Weld ......................... 2-70 2.5.1 Fiber Optic Sensors ..................................................................................... 2-72 2.5.2 Luna Crack Growth Sensor ......................................................................... 2-76 2.5.3 Crack Propagation Sensor ........................................................................... 2-80 2.6 Concrete Degradation Monitoring ............................................................................ 2-83 2.6.1 Embeddable Corrosion Sensors .................................................................. 2-83 2.6.2 External Corrosion Sensors ......................................................................... 2-88 2.6.2.1 Linear Polarization Resistance Sensor .......................................... 2-88 2.6.2.2 Resistivity Sensor .......................................................................... 2-92 2.6.2.3 Surface Potential Sensor ............................................................... 2-96 2.6.3 Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity Sensor ................................................................. 2-98 2.6.4 Acoustic Emission Sensor ......................................................................... 2-101 2.6.5 Fiber Optic Sensors ................................................................................... 2-104 2.7 Cask Bolt Degradation Monitoring ......................................................................... 2-104 2.7.1 Conventional and Phased Array Ultrasonic Testing for Detecting Stress Corrosion Cracking of Cask Bolts ................................................... 2-105 2.7.2 Coupled Multielectrode Array Sensor for Localized Corrosion Monitoring of Cask Bolts ............................................................................ 2-109 2.7.3 Electrochemical Noise Probe for Localized Corrosion Monitoring of Cask Bolts .................................................................................................. 2-112 2.7.4 Electrical Resistance Probe for General Corrosion Monitoring of Cask Bolts ........................................................................................................... 2-115 2.7.5 Acoustic Emission Sensors ....................................................................... 2-117 2.7.6 Impedance-Based, In-Situ Sensors ........................................................... 2-119 3 TECHNIQUES FOR FUNCTIONAL MONITORING OF INTERNAL ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS AND DEGRADATION OF COMPONENTS INSIDE THE CONFINEMENT BOUNDARY ....................................................................... 3-1 3.1 Monitoring Challenges ............................................................................................... 3-2 3.1.1 Power Supply ................................................................................................. 3-3 3.1.2 Wireless Data Transmission .......................................................................... 3-3 3.2 Temperature Monitoring ............................................................................................ 3-4 3.2.1 Temperature Monitoring Methods Assessed in Section 2.1 .......................... 3-4 3.2.2 Bimetallic Sensors ......................................................................................... 3-7 3.2.3 Pyrometric Cones and Thermoscope Bars .................................................. 3-10 3.3 Humidity Monitoring ................................................................................................. 3-13 3.4 Pressure Monitoring ................................................................................................ 3-17 3.4.1 Bourdon Tube Pressure Gauges ................................................................. 3-23 3.4.2 Ball Bearing Strikes-Generated Sound Resonance Spectra ....................... 3-26 3.4.3 Remote Sensing of Pressure Transducer Inside Canister ........................... 3-27 3.4.4 Booth-Cromer-Type, Null-Balance Pressure Transducer ............................ 3-29 3.4.5 Container Material Hoop Strain-Based Embedded Sensors ......................