Early Localization of Containment Leakage During an Accident

Abstract

In case of an accident in a nuclear plant, checking the containment leaktightness would be a fundamental step for the diagnosis and prognosis of the radiological consequences. Significant help in this task can be provided by softwares. For that purpose, the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) is developing an expert system which can provide early in the accident a classification of the possible leakage paths and help understanding the necessary corrections which have to be undertaken by the utility. This software will be used at the Emergency Technical Center of the CEA. Its basic principles are described in this paper.