Self-powered Wireless Through-wall Data Communication for Nuclear

Environments

Yongjia Wu, Lei Zuo*

Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, leizuo@vt.edu

Suresh Kaluvan, Haifeng Zhang

Dept. of Mechanical and Energy Engineering
University of North Texas, Denton, TX 76207 USA, haifeng.zhang@unt.edu

Nance Ericson, Kyle Reed, Roger Kisner

Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, ericsonmn@ornl.gov

ABSTRACT

In the nuclear industry, many vital components, such as spent fuel storage canisters and nuclear
reactor pressure vessels (RPV), are entirely enclosed by metal and surrounded by thick concrete
walls that manage the potentially harmful radiation and prevent release to the environment. Due to
the casks’ long storage, monitoring temperature, pressure, radiation, humidity, structural health, etc.,
within these enclosed vessels is crucial to ensure the fuel containment safety and security. In this
paper, a self-powered wireless through-wall data communication system for nuclear environments
was designed. The whole package includes: a radiation energy harvester with power management;
ultrasound wireless communication using high-temperature piezoelectric transducers; electronics
modules for harvesting, sensing, and data transmission; and radiation shielding for electronics and
sensors. The package is able to harvest tens to hundreds of mW power from a nuclear canister
environment directly and provides a path forward for continuous monitoring of the dry cask for 50
years.
Key Words: Energy harvesting, ultrasound communication, harsh-environment electronics,
radiation shielding

1 INTRODUCTION

In the United States, typically one-third of the fuel elements in nuclear reactors are replaced every 18
months, and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) estimates that 70,000 metric tons of uranium
(MTU) are contained in spent fuel. In the U.S. alone there are 2,100 loaded dry casks, and the number
increases by 200 each year [1]. However, there is currently no internal sensing and instrumentation system
that can provide direct measurements of the critical conditions because (1) there is no long-lasting electricity
power supply for sensors inside the enclosed canisters, (2) data cannot be transferred out of the enclosed
steel canister using wires or RF wireless, and (3) the harsh high-temperature (150–175°C on the wall
surface) and high-radiation environment inside the enclosed vessel create challenges for electronics and
sensors. Similar sensing and communication needs and challenges exist for the nuclear reactor vessels of
boiling water reactors (BWRs) and pressurized water reactors (PWRs).
In the previous study, a detailed three-dimensional thermal and fluid analysis of a vertical dry storage cask
with a canister containing 32 high-burnup pressurized water reactor (PWR) spent fuel assemblies for a
storage of 50 years was carried out using a CFD simulation [1]. The temperature-dependent and anisotropic
thermal properties of the fuel assemblies, filling gas within the canister, and air covering the canister were
considered in order to preserve high accuracy. A peak temperature of 621.4 K occurred in the upper part of
the fuel assemblies at year 5, decreasing to 423.0 K after 50 years of service. In this paper, these issues
were addressed using local environment energy harvesting, through-wall ultrasound communication, and
harsh environment electronics (Fig. 1). The specific objectives are (1) directly harvest electrical energy
from the gamma rays, temperature gradient, and thermoelectrics, (2) transmit a large amount of sensing
data through the metal wall and thick concrete via ultrasound based on “mode conversion” principle, (3)
creatively design, develop, and deploy electronics for a functional demonstration of the complete system,
and (4) provide a design, fabrication, and shielding strategy for future realization of high-temperature and
radiation-hardened electronics circuits and communication systems for use inside the enclosed nuclear
vessels.

Figure 1. System illustration of gamma heating thermoelectric energy harvesting, ultrasonic through-wall
data communication, and shielded harsh environment sensors and electronics for enclosed nuclear canisters.

2 RESULTS

2.1 Energy Harvesting for the Nuclear Environment

Energy harvesting and wireless communication provide a promising opportunity to revolutionize nuclear
sensors and instrumentation, and to benefit reactor design and fuel cycle facilities by reducing the cost of
power, wiring, and signal transmission or eliminating battery replacement. More importantly, when a severe
accident or massive loss of grid power occurs, the energy harvester can provide self-sustainable power to
monitor the critical parameters of the nuclear power plant or fuel cycle facilities. Actually, to power a 1-W
sensing and data transmission system for 3 seconds, the system only needs 10-mW of continuous energy
harvesting every 5 minutes.
In a canister, spent nuclear fuel emits alpha, beta, neutron, and gamma rays as radioactive decay, which
provide abundant energy sources for energy harvesting. The neutron and gamma rays are the two main
radiation particles within the canister. The gamma rays are extremely high-frequency photons with energy
of 100 keV–1 MeV and a very high penetration capability. Most of the radiation energy is emitted as gamma
rays. Another important type of radiation in the spent fuel is neutrons ( ~1.5 MeV average). However, the
decay heat from a neutron deposition is several orders of magnitude lower than that from gamma. The decay
heat generated within the dry cask storage is highly dependent on the fuel makeup and its operation within
the reactor. According to a simulation result using SCALE, the initial decay heat in a MPC-32 canister is
as high as 38.44 kW after 5 years in a storage pool, and it decreases to 10.67 kW after another 50-years of
dry storage [1].
Because of the decay heat generated by the gamma and neutron rays’ deposition, the peak temperature
within the canister can be as high as 620 K [1]. To accelerate the dissipation rate of the decay heat into the
ambient environment, the canister is backfilled with helium gas to 3.3 atmospheres. The concrete overpack
is made to house the MPC and has inner channels to allow airflow between the concrete and MPC, cooling
the canister by taking advantage of buoyancy force. The strong convective heat transfer processes inside
and outside of the MPC create a large temperature drop near the canister wall, making it an ideal place for
thermoelectric energy harvesting. Our previous calculations found that the temperature drop near the
canister wall can be as high as 70 K when initially placed in the canister. This temperature difference
decreases to 13 K after 50 years of canister storage [1].
2.1.1 Gamma-radiation energy harvester
The initial energy harvester was designed to effectively use the gamma heating in the tungsten plate (Fig.
2) [2]. The power output of this energy harvester (Fig. 3) with a matched load resistor is 17.8 mW when
the nuclear waste is initially stored in the canister—a bit higher than the necessary 10 mW previously
mentioned. However, because of the huge tungsten plate size and a large volume of thermal isolation
material, the final energy harvester is very heavy and cumbersome. As radioactive decay continues, the
voltage and power outputs of the energy harvester reduce rapidly due to the significant decrease in gamma
deposited heat. After 50 years of container storage, the energy harvester can provide less than 1.0 mW
energy, which is far less than the target goal of 10 mW. To offer a more complete solution capable of
supplying 10 mW of energy over the entire 50 years, the energy harvester was repositioned to utilize the
existing temperature gradient near the canister wall.

Figure 2. Gamma-radiation energy harvester.

 Figure 3. The voltage and power output of the gamma heating energy harvester during 50-years operation

2.1.2 Existing temperature gradient energy harvester

Considering that the power output of the gamma radiation energy harvester can hardly meet the power
demand (~10 mW) for the wireless communication system, a more applicable energy harvester was
designed to more effectively utilize the existing temperature gradient near the canister wall (Fig. 4) [2].
The overall size of the TEG energy harvester was about 8 × 8 × 6 cm3, making it compact and easy to install
in the canister. To achieve the best performance, the finned array was optimized based on the flow condition
along the canister wall. To meet the energy demand, four TEG modules (TEG1-1263-4.3) were assembled
thermally in parallel to increase the power output.

Figure 4. Existing temperature gradient energy harvester.

The performance of the energy harvester was tested in the lab [2], the voltage output changed accordingly
with the temperature difference between the hot and cold ends of the TEG module. In this design, four TEG
modules were connected thermally in parallel and electrically in series. As shown in Fig. 5, the voltage
outputs of a single TEG module were about 0.50, 0.55, and 0.60 V for the year 55, 50, and 45 cases. In
addition, the total voltage output of the energy harvester was about 2.0, 2.2, and 2.4 V, and the
corresponding maximum power outputs of the TEG energy harvester were around 46.3, 56.1, and 66.7 mW,
for the 55, 50, and 45 year cases. In this configuration, the unit provided more than the 10 mW needed for
electronics powering, even past 50 years of storage.
However, the performance of the thermal TEG energy harvester was poorer than the simulation result. This
can be reasoned as follows. First, the thermal contact resistances were considerable in the energy harvester
assembly. Second, the thermal properties of all the material were temperature dependent, especially for the
working fluid. Third, although feedback controllers were used to control the temperatures of the oil and the
cooling block, the temperature fluctuation during the experiment caused significant variation in the
temperature difference and the associated voltage output.

Figure 5. The experimental results for the thermal energy harvester in hydraulic mineral oil: (a) The hot- and
cold- end temperatures of TEG, and flow temperature, and (b) the open circuit voltage output.

2.2 Ultrasound Through-wall Data Communications

Ultrasonic through wall communication is critical to transmit the sensor data from inside the canister to the
outside data acquisition units. In this work, we have successfully verified data communication by using
ultrasound. A theoretical evaluation of the through wall transmitting system was conducted initially,
followed by experimental testing using a pair of piezoelectric transducers.

Figure 6. Schematic diagram of the ultrasonic communication system

2.2.1 Theoretical modeling of an ultrasonic communication system
In this section, we describe the theoretically modelled ultrasonic data communication system illustrated in
Fig. 6, being used to optimize our current experimental demonstration. The model consists of a single
driving transducer with a single receiving transducer. For the piezoelectric transducers, we assume the
communication path is along the direction of plate thickness, and the transducers are driven in thickness-
extensional modes. For one-dimensional motion, the relevant stress component T33 and the electric
displacement component D3 are given by

T33  c33u3,3  e33,3

(1)
D3  e33u1,3   33,3
The expression of 𝑢3,3 and φ3 can be obtained by integrating equation (1) from the top to bottom layer of
the driving transducer:
u3 ( x3 )  A1 cos x3  B1 sin x3 ,
e
 ( x3 )  35 u3  F1 x3  G1 , h0  x3  h0  h1 , (2)
 33

The middle layer (the elastic shell):

u3 ( x3 )  A2 cos x3  B2 sin x3 ,  h0  x3  h0 , (3)
The bottom (the output transducer)
u3 ( x3 )  A3 cos x3  B3 sin x3 ,
e h0  h2  x3  h0 , (4)
 ( x3 )  33 u3  F3 x3  G3 ,
 33

where   (  2 / c33 )1/ 2 ,   (   2 / c33

 )1/ 2 .

On the two interfaces, we require that the displacement 𝑢3 and the mechanical traction 𝑇33 are continuous,
i.e.:
u3 (h0 )  u3 (h0 ),
u3 ( h0 )  u3 ( h0 ),
T33 (h0 )  T33 (h0 ), (5)
T33 ( h0 )  T33 ( h0 ),

The traction-free boundary conditions at the top of the driving transducer and at the bottom of the output
transducer are
T33  0, a t x  h0  h1 (6)

T33  0, a t x  h0  h2 (7)

The electric boundary conditions at the top and bottom surfaces are
  V1 , a t x  h0  h1 (8)

  V2 , a t x  h0  h2 (9)
where V1 is the applied voltage, V2 is the output voltage.
The transducer-elastic shell interfaces are considered as grounded, so the electric potential is given by:
 (h0 )  0,  (h0 )  0, (10)
Piezoelectric transducers (PZTs) are resonant devices with a high quality factor. As such, the output power
is maximized by driving the PZT at the resonant frequency. The efficiency of a ceramic PZT, PZT-5H,
having a steel elastic shell is shown in Fig. 7. Two identifiable resonance peaks can be identified at the
resonance frequency (Fig. 7, left) and the third harmonic (Fig. 7, right). To maximize the efficiency of the
communication system, the carrier frequency should be matched to the resonance of the transducer.

0.07 0.012

0.06 0.010

0.05
0.008

P2/P1
0.04
P2/P1

0.006
0.03
0.004
0.02

0.01 0.002

0.00 0.000
0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5
 /0

Figure 7. The efficiency of the communication system as a function of the driving frequency.

2.2.2 High temperature ultrasonic through wall communication experiment

As an initial step, we used three different high temperature PZTs from TRS Ceramics shown in Fig. 8 where
their properties are given in Table 1.Three different high-temperature PZTs were selected from TRS
Ceramics (displayed in Fig. 8) and were compared. Their properties are given in Table 1.
Table 1: Properties of the three selected high temperature TRS PZTs
Parameter TRS200HD TRS203HD BT200
Tc (oC) 340 380 430
d33(pC/N) 400 300 250

BT200

Figure 8. Photograph of high temperature metal wall.

Our experimental system consists of a steel block with dimensions of 30 cm x 15 cm x 7.5 cm. Two pair of
TRS200HD transducers separated by 10 cm were fixed coaxially on opposing sides of the block’s surface
using a high-temperature conductive epoxy from AREMCO Products.

Figure 9. Schematic of text transmission system.

Our transmission system diagram is shown in Fig 9. Text data was generated and serialized by an Arduino
UNO microcontroller board. The carrier frequency of AM circuit was tuned to 123.32 KHz, which matched
the resonance frequency of the transducer. The modulated signal was mixed by the AM circuit and
transmitted by a TRS200HD. This signal was received by the coaxially mounted TRS200HD and
demodulated using a simple diode rectification circuit. Our experimental setup is shown in Fig. 10 (a).
This system was tested at room temperature. The serialized output (red), transmitted signal (green), received
signal (pink), and demodulated output (blue) are given in Fig. 10(b). This system was successfully verified
up to 120 °C. For our test, the message “Hello World” was successfully transferred from one side of the
metal wall to other side.

Figure 10. Photograph of the experiment; (b) Input-output characteristics of system.

2.3 Temperature and Radiation Hardened Electronics for In-Casks Sensor Interfacing and
Communications
A temperature and radiation-hardened electronics system is under development to enable in-cask
monitoring of temperature and pressure, and to transmit this sensor data periodically to the cask exterior
using a piezoelectric transducer. These circuits must tolerate a radiation dose rate of ~33 kRad/hr for the
planned 50-year storage cycle [3]. Despite the significant fission induced heat, peak temperature exposure
may be limited to ~200°C if placed in the lower half of the inside vessel wall [1, 4]. Two measurements of
interest, temperature and pressure, will be sensed periodically (limited by available in-cask power) and
transmitted from the interior of the containment vessel to the fuel cask exterior. The initial design of the
electronics system is summarized in this section along with the results of SPICE simulations.
2.3.1 In-Cask Electronics Architecture
To withstand the harsh environmental conditions associated with in-cask monitoring, an analog-based
approach was chosen with primary emphasis on simplicity (i.e. fewer active devices), minimizing energy
consumption, and maximizing signal to noise ratio (SNR). The electronics topology chosen is shown in
Fig. 11. Two signals with independent fundamental frequencies, each dependent on a different
measurement sensor of interest (temperature or pressure), are summed then mixed with a reference carrier
frequency to produce a single signal of bandwidth determined by the selection of the three frequencies.
This resultant signal is then filtered, amplified, and used to drive the piezo transducer for data
communication to the outside of the cask. Straightforward detection can be performed on the exterior to
isolate the two sensor signals of interest. This topology requires a minimum number of active devices and
operates entirely in the analog domain.

Figure 11. Simplified electronics system for in-cask monitoring of temperature and pressure
The principal building blocks of this topology include three oscillator circuits, a summing circuit, a mixer,
and an acoustic transducer driver. One oscillator, referred to as the local oscillator (LO), generates the
carrier frequency while the other two oscillators output a frequency which is proportional to the associated
sensor resistance or capacitance. The mixer modulates the summed sensor outputs to the resonant frequency
of the acoustic transducer for more efficient transmission. An acoustic driver is used to amplifier the signal
from the mixer stage for transmission. Different designs where considered for the individual system blocks.
For instance, large-carrier AM mixers were weighed against suppressed carrier mixers. The LO was
implemented as a Colpitts oscillator for its high efficiency, while the sensors oscillators are RC phase
oscillators, discussed later in greater detail. A single-ended Gilbert Cell was chosen as the mixer. Finally,
the acoustic transducer driver for the BT200 piezoelectric transducer is a common emitter topology
amplifier.
2.3.2 Sensor-based Oscillator Circuits
The two sensor interface oscillators initially utilized commercial integrated circuit voltage-controlled
oscillators (VCOs) which produce square wave shaped output signals. To reduce complexity and harmonic
content, these commercial VCOs were replaced with RC oscillators shown in Fig. 12(a), each based on a
single active device. The tuning resistive elements 𝑅1, 𝑅2, and 𝑅3 are replaced with thermistors to produce
an oscillation frequency that varies with the thermistor temperature (see Fig. 12 (b)). Similarly, the pressure
sensor oscillator replaces the frequency tuning capacitors 𝐶1, 𝐶2,and 𝐶3 with capacitive pressure sensors.
For both implementations, each RC sensor’s output frequency 𝑓𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑜𝑟 is governed by Eq. 11. The resistances
𝑅1, 𝑅2 and 𝑅3, are assumed to be equivalent in value denoted as 𝑅. Similarly, the capacitances 𝐶1, 𝐶2, and
𝐶3 are assumed to be equivalent and denoted as 𝐶 . It is reasonable to assume that these three sensor values
in each case are equivalent as they are located in approximately the same area.
 1
𝑓𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑜𝑟 = 2𝜋𝑅𝐶 6 (11)

These sensors were simulated in LTSPICE with a change of the resistance values for 𝑅1, 𝑅2, and 𝑅3 from
10 𝑘Ω to 12 𝑘Ω. The capacitors 𝐶1, 𝐶2 and 𝐶3 remained constant between the two simulations each having
a value of 1 𝑛𝐹. The other circuit parameters are 𝑅4 = 400𝑘Ω, 𝑅5 = 700 𝑘Ω, 𝑅6 = 2 𝑘Ω, 𝑅7 = 600 Ω, 𝐶4
= 1 𝜇𝐹, and 𝐶5 = 100𝜇𝐹. The voltage sourced was 12 VDC, and the transistor Q1 was simulated as
2N2222. The output frequencies are shown to be 6.66 kHz for the 10 𝑘Ω sense resistors and 5.82 kHz for
the 12 𝑘Ω sense resistors. These frequencies are within 10% of the theoretical estimate.

Figure 12 (a) Sensor oscillator circuit based on an RC phase oscillator and (b) resultant SPICE simulation
output frequency plot for 10 k𝛀 (green) and 12 k𝛀 sensor resistors.
2.3.3 Modulation Circuits
Double-side band analog modulation was chosen as it is a suitable implementation circuit having reduced
active components. Furthermore, large carrier amplitude modulation (AM) is inefficient as power is
consumed in the carrier signal. Consequently, a suppressed carrier AM communication was implemented.
A single-ended Gilbert cell was designed using bipolar junction transistors (BJTs) which perform the carrier
modulation of the LO signal by the summed two sensor-representative oscillator signals. This circuit was
simulated in LTSPICE with the input of two sensors and the LO. Sensor 1 was set for 17.5 kHz, while
Sensor 2 was tuned for 90 kHz. The LO was set for approximately 1 MHz. The resultant output spectrum
is shown in Fig. 13 where the spectral lines of sensors 1 and 2 can be observed. The carrier was suppressed
by -25 dB while the sensor magnitudes were greater than -10 dB. All other harmonics were below -30 dB
allowing for the sensors to easily be distinguished from interfering harmonics.
 Figure 13. Spectrum of the Gilbert Mixer output. The carrier and the sensor fundamental frequencies are
labeled.

With the favorable results of the simulations, a printed circuit board design is currently in development for
full system laboratory testing. Demodulation of the transmitted sensor information was not discussed in
detail. However, the demodulation components will be placed outside of the radiation and temperature
environment of the fuel cask. This allows for the use of commercial systems which are readily available
which may include software defined radios, synchronous demodulators, or AM demodulators. Although,
the chosen components implemented in this design would not survive the radiation environment inside the
fuel cask, the discrete transistor design of this circuit allows for a viable path forward to a suitable radiation
hardened instigation. This may be accomplished by substituting the BJTs with vacuum tube transistors,
small feature size CMOS, or perhaps JFETs with adequate shielding and revised circuit biasing.

2.4 Radiation shielding design

2.4.1 Radiation shielding material

Spent nuclear fuel emits alpha, beta, neutron, and gamma rays as radioactive decay providing abundant
energy sources [5] (Fig. 14). The alpha particles are the nucleus of a helium-4 atom with a charge +2 and
travel in the velocity of ~5% of the speed of light. They can be easily absorbed by materials and will not
travel far from the spent fuel assembly. The beta particles are high-energy (~1MeV), high-speed electrons
emitted from the beta decay with the medium penetrating power. The emitted gamma rays are
electromagnetic radiation of extremely high frequency photons having wavelengths of ~1ppm of visible
light. The gamma photons have energies in the 100keV-1MeV range and have very high penetration
capability. Neutron radiation is generated during the nuclear fission or nuclear fusion. According to the
energy of the neutron particles, the neutron particles can be divided into three categories: cold, thermal, and
fast neutrons. The two main types of radiation associated with spent nuclear fuel are gamma (𝛾) and thermal
neutron (𝑛) rays. According to the simulation results, the 𝛾 radiation dose is much higher than the neutron
radiation dose.

Figure 14. The penetration ability for different particles [6].

Gamma rays are better absorbed by materials with high atomic numbers and high density, although neither
effect is important compared to the total mass per area in the path of the gamma ray. For this reason, a lead
shield is only modestly better (20–30% better) as a gamma shield than an equal mass of another shielding
material, such as aluminum, concrete, water or soil. Lead's major advantage is not in lower weight, but
rather its compactness due to its higher density. Also, increased shielding thickness of a given material is
required as the the energy of the gamma rays increases, to maintain similar shielding performance.
Traditional neutron shielding methods rely on the use of specific, individual, material isotopes being placed
between the source of neutrons and the area in which lower radiation levels are desired. The more effective
shielding designs usually feature thermal neutron absorbers, which are materials that can readily remove
lower energy neutrons through an atomic absorption interaction. Common elements used as “thermal
absorbers” are cadmium (Cd-113) and boron (B-10). Considering that neutron radiation typically includes
neutrons of varying energy levels, methods relying on thermal absorption also require the use of materials
intended to moderate, or slow down, faster neutrons. It is well known that materials with lower atomic
masses are considered highly effective at this moderation process and can be used as the primary means to
slow down the fast neutrons, as neutron energy loss via elastic scattering increases with decreasing atomic
mass of the target nuclei. In most cases, to effective shield neutrons with varying energy, it is desired to
have multi-layer shielding materials for both moderation and absorption. This also leads to the observation
that if a single material could effectively perform both functions, neutron shield design could potentially be
simplified significantly.
The composite tungsten boron carbide, referred to as W-B4C within this work, was studied to shield the
electronics from both neutron and gamma radiation within the canister [7]. The idea to include the tungsten
in this composite stems from the fact that tungsten is a commonly used material in gamma radiation
shielding, due to its high density. Therefore, using tungsten as the matrix and boron carbide as the filling
material potentially yields a composite, which is effective at shielding both neutron and gamma rays.
Tungsten was chosen over other commonly used lead material because it is not toxic and can be easily
mixed with other materials to form composites.
The mass fraction of an element within a compound can be calculated by
𝑀𝑖 ∗ 𝑛𝑖
𝑤𝑖 = (12)
∑𝑛 𝑀𝑖 ∗ 𝑛𝑖
𝑖=1

where 𝑀𝑖 is the atomic mass of the element and 𝑛𝑖 is the number of atoms of that element per molecule for
a compound containing 𝑛 elements.
The averaged density of that compound can then be estimated through the summation of the weighted
elemental densities, 𝜌𝑖, via equation below.
𝑛
𝜌𝑎𝑣𝑔 = ∑𝑖 = 1𝑤𝑖𝜌𝑖 (13)

The parameters in the Eq. (12) and (13) are shown below in Table II.

Table II Constituent Element Weight Percentages and Theoretical Densities of the W-B4C
Composite Materials
W-B4C
Element wt. %
W 77
B-10 4
B-11 14
C 5
 Density (g/cm3) 15.34

2.4.2 Gamma and neutron shielding in the canister

The radiation source for the MCNP6 simulation were obtained from the SCALE calculation results, in
which the energy spectrum and materials compositions were given from year 5 to year 55. The spent fuel
was uniformly assigned to the fuel assemblies, as shown in Fig. 15. The shielding box, with a dimension of
20 x 20 cm2, was fixed at the side of the fuel assemblies. The electronics were attached to the right side of
the shielding material, assuming that most of the gamma and neutron rays came from the left side of the
shielding box. The gamma and neutron fluxes were simulated at the electronics, as the tungstem plate was
varied in thickness from 0 cm to 3.5 cm.
The gamma threshold for the electronics were estimated based on our test on a DC-DC converter
(Depending on the specific circuits used in the DC-DC converter, which is not discussed here.) that was
built in our lab for the radiation environment application [4]. According to our test at Westinghouse, the
accumulated gamma radiation dose was 94.4 kRads when the commercial DC-DC convector lost function
[4]. As observed in Fig. 16, the thicker the shielding material was, the smaller was the accumulated gamma
dose in the electronics. According to the calculation in the MCNP 6, when the thickness of the shielding
block is 6.0 cm, the cumulated radiation dose in the electronics can still as high as 2.0×105 kRads. To ensure
50-years safe operation in the canister, electronics with higher radiation-harden capacity should be
developed and thicker shielding block should be developed. The neutron flux in the canister was seven
order lower than the gamma flux. Though the energy of the neutron particles had higher averaged energy
(~2.2 MeV), the accumulated neutron dose penetrating the shielding material was still six order lower than
the gamma dose. Thus the neutron effect on the electronics was minor.

Figure 15. MNCP6 model to test the radiation shielding performance.

 Figure 16. The accumulated gamma dose in the electronics vs time.

2.4.3 The thermal and radiation block design for the electronics

The high temperature within the canister is another challenge for the electronics. For year 5 case, the helium
gas temperature near the canister wall may be as high as 480 K, while the wall temperature was about 410
K. To ensure that the temperature of the electronics is maintained below 423 K (150 °C) a thermal layer
was added to the electronics shielding, as shown in Fig. 17. Moving from the outside inward, the steel layer
provides physical protection, a layer made of fiberglass provides thermal shielding, a copper layer helps
spread the heat making it more uniform, and an inner layer of W-B4C provides radiation shielding. The
thickness of each layer was presented in Table III. The W-B4C layer had a thickness of 25 mm, which
marginally met the requirement for the gamma radiation shielding (Section 2.4.2).

Figure 17. Radiation and thermal shielding block

Table III The thermal conductivity and thickness of each layers

 Materials Thermal conductivity (W/(m*K)) Thickness (mm)

Steel 50.2 2

Silica 1.4 5

Fiber glass 0.04 10-20

Copper 400 10

W-B4C 141.5 (Weight averaged) 25

The temperature distribution in the shielding materials is illustrated in Fig. 18. The temperature of the wall
attached to the canister wall was set to be 410 K, and the five other walls exposed to the hot helium flow
were set a heat convective coefficient of 143.37 W/(m∙K) [8]. The thermal conductivity of each shielding
material was listed in Table III. A numerical analysis found that the shielding block design can meet the
requirement for the thermal shielding, as the temperature at inner surfaces was less than 423 K, a safe
margin.

Figure 18. Temperature contours in the thermal and radiation shielding block.

3 CONCLUSIONS

In this paper, an enabling technology for the data communications for nuclear reactors and fuel cycle
facilities using radiation and thermal energy harvesters, through-wall ultrasound communication, and harsh
environment electronics was investigated for 50-year sensing and reporting in nuclear .
1. Two energy harvesters for a self-powered wireless through-wall sensing and communicating system in
nuclear canisters were designed, simulated, and tested. The first energy harvester was a novel
conceptual design for gamma radiation energy harvesting. The energy harvester gave an ideal voltage
output of 0.756 V and a corresponding power output of 17.8 mW in the first year of dry cask storage.
Throughout the life of cask storage, the simulated energy output dropped below 10 mW after 5-years
storage, which was the desired threshold to power the electronics used in through wall communication.
 To facilitate the performance needed for 50-year canister storage, a new thermal energy harvester was
designed to pull energy from the helium flow in canisters by taking advantage of the existing
temperature difference near the canister wall. After a careful thermal analysis and experimental
verification, it was found that the open circuit voltage and power output of the energy harvester were
about 2.0 V and 46.3 mW following 50 years in storage
2. The ultrasonic TEXT transmission at temperatures ranging from 20 °C to 100 °C using a one to one
transducer configuration was successfully verified through the metal canister wall using an amplitude
modulated ultrasonic signal. As a breakthrough, the ultrasonic TEXT communication up to 120 °C
temperature using the one to one transducer configuration communication method was experimentally
demonstrated.
3. An electronics topology was developed and simulated for in-cask temperature and pressure sensor
interfacing and for driving a PZT for through canister wall communications. The topology chosen is
suitable for future temperature and radiation hardening using appropriate device/process selection and
device design with shielding. The model and simulation of the TRS BT200 piezoelectric transducer
were completed at the current status, and an experiment is scheduled to verify the simulation results
using a prototype electronics design under laboratory conditions.
4. The shielding performance of the W-B4C was examined using the MCNP6 code. The W-B4C was
identified as the shielding material for both gamma and neutron shielding, where tungsten element in
the composition was used for the gamma shielding and the boron element was used for the neutron
shielding. To ensure 50-years safe operation in the canister, electronics with higher radiation-harden
capacity should be developed and thicker shielding block (>6.0 cm) should be developed.. A thermal
analysis on the radiation-shielding block found that it could also meet the thermal shielding
requirements for the electronics.

4 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the US Department of Energy NEET Program
via Grant #16-10884.

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