LED technology applied to the Ascó Nuclear Power Plant

Project description

The incandescent lighting technology used in the Containment Building of the Ascó Nuclear Power Plant is affected by a situation of obsolescence due to the mandatory compliance of lamps manufacturers with European energy efficiency directives and regulations. which implies for Nuclear Power Plants a situation of difficulty of supplying this type of lamps.
In view of the need to validate an alternative lighting technology, the degree of compliance of the different lighting technologies currently available has been evaluated, with the applicable design requirements of the Design Bases and the Safety Study, choosing the consistent solution in the use of LED technology, which provides significant improvements in the use of lamps with much lower electrical power and with a widely superior service life, with the consequent benefits by the decrease of resources for the activities of replacement of lamps and the accumulated collective dose of the workers exposed in recharge, as well as in the environmental management by the reduction of the radioactive residues.

The Aussie Group Group, with its new Galyx brand, developed a specific design of alternative LED lamps to meet all design requirements. (See second table)

The new design features very low aluminum content (between 1 and 2 grams per lamp).

The replacement of incandescent lamps of 200W, 100W and 60W for their LW equivalents of 27W, 15W and 10W in the Containment Building has been implanted in CN Ascó 1 in Larecarga 25 (2017) and is planned to be installed in CN Ascó 2 in the recharge 24 (2017) and CN Vandellòs II in the recharge 22 (2018), with the forecast of obtaining the following results:

1) Reduction of the electric consumption of the lamps affected by approximately 86%, which implies greater availability of electrical power generated for commercialization.

2) Increased lamp life 25 to 50 times longer than the original, which means:

(a) Reduction of resources required for the replacement of cast lamps
b) Reduction of the cumulative collective dose of workers exposed in recharge, for the replacement of cast lamps
(c) Reduction of radioactive waste from cast lamps

Project details

Client Asoc. Nuclear Ascó – Vandellòs II, A.I.E.
Date July 2017
Installed Product Delta 30, Zeta 15, Delta 10

Important data

Reduction of electricity consumption 86%
Increased life 25 to 50 times longer than the original