Diagnostics and Prognostics of Electric Cables in Nuclear Power Plants via Joint Time-Frequency Domain Reflectometry

Defective cables in the electric power systems of nuclear power plants can cause a component to fail, resulting in potential safety concerns. Due to this problem, a non-destructive, non-intrusive condition assessment technique is highly desirable. Joint time-frequency domain reflectometry (JTFDR) is proposed and verified to be effective for cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) cable, which serves critical instrumentation and control operations in nuclear power plants. The experimental results demonstrate and verify the ability of JTFDR to effectively detect and locate incipient defects with high accuracy and to monitor the aging process of the cables to predict both future defects and the remaining service life of the cables.