A GarrettCom Application Note

GARRETTCOM INDUSTRIAL ETHERNET SWITCHES AT THE CORE OF A RADIOACTIVESODIUM REPROCESSING PLANT

An Industrial Ethernet Application

The contract to construct the sodium reprocessing reactor was awarded to Framatome AREVA NP – an acknowledged leader in the design, construc- tion and maintainance of nuclear power plants. For the control and communication equipment that the build required, which covered a complete package of SCADA, Industrial plcs and Ethernet network equipment for a high level of automation, Framatome turned to French industrial and utility integrator Factory Systemes.The last few years has seen a dramatic increase inthe automation of electrical utilities, with the result that the IEC 61850 standard was introduced. The 61850 standard defines a common communi- cations architecture for automation components. This comprehensive standard was conceived to enforce interoperability between a variety of IEDs. TECHNOLOGY TODAY THE CHALLENGE When construction of the Super Phénix fast-breederreactor began in 1977 in Creys Malville, France, it was hailed by the French Government as “the new Concorde”. The pioneering design was intended as a prototype for future nuclear energy production, and was touted as the near perfect way to generate electric power. Unfortunately, almost from the moment of its commissioning in 1984, it was beset by problems, running only intermittently for the next 13 years. In June 1997, the French National Assembly pulled the plug on the project.This left France’s principal energy company, the EDF(Electricité de France), with a number of problems, not least of which was the reprocessing of 5500 tonnes of radioactive liquid sodium. After years of debates, enquiries and proposals, it was finally agreed in April 2004 that, as part of the build out of the Super Phénix, a new plant would be installed to drain the sodium and a ‘reactor’ constructed at Creys Malville to trans- form the sodium into caustic soda.