A water monitoring system for a nuclear reactor is provided. In an
exemplary embodiment, the water monitoring system includes a fiber optic
cable having a first end and a second end, with the first end configured
to optically couple to the reactor cooling water distribution system, and
at least one laser light source optically coupled to the second end of the
fiber optic cable. The water monitoring system also includes a
spectrophotometer optically coupled to the second end of the fiber optic
cable.