THE UPGRADING OF NUCLEAR PLANT E-FIELD PERIMETER DETECTION SYSTEMS AN ANNUAL REPORT

A paper entitled \"The Upgrading of Nuclear Plant E-Field Perimeter Detection Systems\" was presented by the above author at last years 28th annual INMM meeting held in San Diego, California. Last years paper explored the early development stages of the Electrostatic Perimeter Intrusion Detection Sensor (E-Field) commonly deployed at the maj ority of nuclear powered electrical generating plants in the United States and a significant number of plants located in foreign countries worldwide. The paper also described the developments over a period of twelve (12) years since the first E-Field system was deployed and improvements made to upgrade the performance of the overall E-Field Intrusion Detection System. The most recent improvements in the E-Field design were described in detail and included a description of the standard wire configurations for different applications, hardware design (insulators) and electronic processors. These latest E-Field improvements described last year were deployed in plants for periods of less than one (1) year when last years paper was presented. This years paper will report on and address the performance of these latest improvements over the past one and one-half years. It will also review the methods of upgrading the perimeter detection systems and present guidelines for the facility manager to use to efficiently implement these important improvements.