Development of Ceramic Humidity Sensor for the Korean Next Generation Reactor

For the Korean Next Generation Reactor(KNGR) development, LBB is considered for the Main Steam Line(MSL) piping inside its containment to achieve cost and safety Improvement. To apply LBB concept to MSL, leak sensors highly sensitive to humidity is required. In this paper, a ceramic material, MgCr$_2$O$_4$-TiO$_2$ has been developed as a humidity sensor for MSL applications. Experiments peformed to characterize the electrical conductivity shows that the conductivity of MgCr$_2$O$_4$-TiO$_2$ responds sensitively to both temperature and humidity changes. At a constant temperature below 10$0^{\circ}C$, the conductivity increases as the relative humidity increases, which makes the sensor favorable for application to the outside of MSL insulation layer But as temperature increases beyond 10$0^{\circ}C$, the sensor composition should be adjusted for the application to KNGR is to be made at temperature above 10$0^{\circ}C$.