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Health, Safety and Engineering Group


Mandate

bullet  Provides mandatory radiation monitoring services to all occupational workers from nuclear facilities at IGCAR and improvement of radiological services for operating facilities with updated innovative technologies to control external and internal exposures.
bullet  To cater the need for both in-vivo and in-vitro monitoring of occupational workers during normal and emergency situations as per AERB and NDMA guidelines, an Integrated Radiation Monitoring Facility (IRMF) is in operation at Anupuram.
bullet  To provide necessary medical assistance for radiation workers during emergency situations – a Radiation Emergency Medical Centre (REMC) is commissioned at Anupuram, adjacent to DAE hospital.
bullet  Providing Industrial, Fire and Occupational Health and Safety services to workers and improvement in Fire, Industrial and occupational safety at workplaces pace with advent of technologies as required by AERB and conducting promotional activities related to safety for enhancing the safety standards as continuous effort.
bullet  To cater the need for first aid monitoring for occupational workers with state of art medical equipments at occupation health centre at IGCAR
bullet  Experimental design validation of engineered safety features of FBRs
bullet  Development and qualification of material/device for strengthening operational safety


Highlights

  • A fully automated prototype waste assay computed tomography system developed, demonstrated and installed at Demonstration Fast reactor fuel Reprocessing Plant.
  • Clinical Laboratory has been established for occupational workers of IGCAR.
  • Sodium leak through top shield platform in case of HCDA has been realistically estimated through experiments.
  • Response Time of Core Temperature Monitoring Probe of PFBR has been evaluated.
  • Fuel Coolant Interaction experiments were conducted in sodium using simulant corium and debris bed signature has been studied.
  • Sodium leak experiments through realistic cracks were conducted for LBB justification.
  • Sodium boiling behavior and associated propagation of void in reactor core is investigated.
  • Sacrificial layered core catcher has been developed for whole core melting.
  • Geo polymer based sodium resistant concrete has been qualified.
  • A novel sodium fire extinguishing powder has been developed.

Expertise

  • In house development of segmented and tomography gamma scanning algorithm for assay of radioactive waste drum.
  • Shielding design and analysis of process cells of fast reactor and associated fuel cycle facilities with the use of radiation transport codes.
  • Criticality safety analysis of handling fissile materials in fuel cycle facilities and post irradiation examination labs using Monte Carlo based radiation transport codes.
  • Comprehensive safety research towards (i) experimental design safety margin validation and (ii) accident mitigation strategies for Fast Breeder Reactors (FBRs)

Achievements

Facilities


Radiation Emergency Medical Centre

Capable of decontamination of 10 radiation workers at an instant during radiation emergency situations and equipped with ward room, surgery room and adequate de-corporation agents in stock

facilities

In-vitro Monitoring Lab

facilities

Facility consists of sample receipt room, pre-concentration lab, ion exchange lab, electro deposition lab, counting lab and analytical lab with state of art analytical and radiation instrumentation for assessing actinides and fission products (Pu, U, Th, Sr & Cs) in urine samples.


Facility houses state of art in-vivo monitors such as Standing Whole Body Monitor (SWBM), thyroid monitor, actinide monitor and shadow shield counter for rapid assessment of internal dose received by the occupational workers from nuclear facilities.

facilities

Waste Assay Computed Tomography system

facilities

Waste assay method based on gamma emission from fissile material contained in radioactive waste drum, employing computed tomography technology.


Hydraulic pressure test facility

Hydraulic pressure test facility to ensure the healthiness of the portable fire extinguisher as per IS 2190.

facilities

Air filling station for SCBA

facilities

In-house filling station as per NFPA 1901 for filling Self Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) cylinder.


SOFI Facility for MFCI studies

Facility meant for studies on simulated molten fuel sodium interaction. It comprises of an induction based high temperature melt generator with auxiliary systems and sodium system.

facilities

THERMITE Facility with X- ray Imaging for MFCI studies

facilities

Facility meant for supporting the severe accident experiments. It consists of a high temperature melt generating system based on Aluminothermic reaction, sodium system and X-ray imaging system for investigation of corium fragmentation in sodium.


Sodium Boiling setup with X- ray Imaging

Facility comprises of high flux heaters, Inconel test section and X-ray imaging system for investigation of incipient sodium boiling in a simulated fuel subassembly.
Inconel vessel with heaters for sodium boiling studies – to briefed

facilities

SOCA Facility for sodium safety Experiments

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Facility meant for conducting studies on sodium fire safety such as simulated fire on roof slab during CDA, sodium fire suppression by nitrogen flooding and establishment of sodium disposal techniques.


SS Inert Chamber for Sodium Spray Fragmentation studies

Unique facility comprising a 6 m long inert chamber for studies on sodium jet fragmentation for obtaining particle size distribution towards assessment of spray fire consequences.

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Sodium Leak Test Facility

facilities

Facility capable of generating small sodium leaks through specimens having realistic cracks for investigating sodium leak propagation, interaction of sodium combustion products with structural materials towards LBB justification.


Sodium Loop for response time evaluation of Core Temperature probe

Facility comprises of sodium test vessel with PFBR core thermocouple probe and sodium velocity simulating system towards response time evaluation of core temperature monitoring probes

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MINA Facility for sodium fire studies

facilities

Mini sodium fire test facility with a cubical steel test chamber of 150 m3 volume for experimental studies on sodium fires, consequent aerosol distribution in RCB, sodium concrete interaction and sodium fire extinguishment.


Sodium leak through Roof slab clearences in PFBR during HCDA

Test facility for estimation of sodium leak through clearances between roof slab – rotatable plug in PFBR using water as simulating fluid in full scale sector model.

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PATH facility for Post Accident Heat Removal studies

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Facility consists of a 1:4 scale PFBR main vessel with core catcher model for experimental simulation of post-accident heat removal by natural convection in water and code validation.