Innovative concrete sensing technologies for nuclear power plants

Nondestructive evaluation has been used to investigate construction and use of concrete structures for the nuclear power industry. Nuclear concrete often has unique structural characteristics which increase proclivity towards degradation and inhibit analysis and inspection using traditional nondestructive techniques. Modern embedded sensing technologies can provide opportunities for the in-depth evaluation of nuclear reinforced-concrete structures. This paper offers an assessment of emerging embedded and surficial sensor techniques, and critically evaluates sensor applicability in the analysis of concrete structures used in the nuclear power industry.