Equipment Alley

Tuesday November 05, 2024 from 09:00 to 10:00

Room: Central

TT Equip 1.2 Electrical grid resiliency measures for electron beam and X-ray facilities

Jennifer L Elster, United States

Program Manager
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)

Abstract

Electrical grid resiliency measures for electron beam and X-ray facilities

Jacob Ellis1, Jennifer Elster2, Suresh Pillai3.

1Building Systems , Pacific Northwest National Laboratory , Richland , WA, United States; 2Advanced Engineered Systems, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory , Richland, WA, United States; 3Food Science & Technology, Texas A & M University , College Station , TX, United States

When discussing the transition from gamma to eBeam/X-ray irradiation with stakeholders, especially in developing countries, one of the top challenges frequently highlighted is sustaining high-power consumption devices in a vulnerable or unstable electrical power grid environment. This challenge was also emphasized in an IAEA study, which states that the use of high-energy linear accelerators can be limited due to requirements for a reliable and stable electrical supply. Sterilization facilities that use eBeam often operate 24 hours, 7 days a week when ramped up to full capacity. Unreliable electricity from the grid can cause not only a loss of revenue but can very often damage costly accelerator components. Electrical power supply instability that has transient current/voltage fluctuations changes the amount of power available to pulsed and continuous-wave electron accelerator facilities. These fluctuations can result in damage to key electronic equipment, including klystrons, e-guns, vacuum pumps, and cooling systems. Unannounced electrical load shedding, brown-outs, and surges damage key components. Understanding the electrical power requirements throughout the entire operating cycle for accelerator-based technologies will be valuable for stakeholders considering building new eBeam/X-ray irradiation facilities. It is critical to clearly understand the electrical grid requirements and design electrical resiliency measures and hardware into eBeam and X-ray facilities to counteract the aforementioned problems. This paper will identify the key electrical grid requirements and potential facility resiliency measures that Electron Beam facilities can incorporate into their design and construction to continuously operate in grid-challenged locations.


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