A CAMAC-Controlled Calibration System for Nuclear Reactor Instruments

This paper describes both the hardware and the software which have been developed to implement a nuclear instrument calibration system for the Argonne National Laboratory ZPR-VI and ZPR-IX reactor complex. The system is implemented using an SEL-840 computer with its associated CAMAC crates and a hardware interface to generate input parameters and measure the required outputs on the instrument under test. Both linear and logarithmic instruments can be calibrated by the system and output parameters can be measured at various automatically selected values of ac line voltage. A complete report on each instrument is printed as a result of the calibration and out-of-tolerance readings are flagged. Operator interface is provided by a CAMAC-controlled Hazeltine terminal. The tarminal display leads the. operator through the complete calibration procedure. This computer-controlled system is a significant improvement over previously used methods of calibrating nuclear instruments since it reduces reactor downtime and allows rapid detection of long-term changes in instrument calibration.