Power-level control of the MHTGRs with control rods driven by stepper motors

Abstract Currently, most of the power-level control methods of nuclear reactors are given based upon the scheme of inducing reactivity directly via control rods. However, the reactivity can also be injected indirectly via the negative temperature feedback effect. Motivated by this, a cascaded power-level control of high temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) is proposed by only regulating primary helium flowrate, which can be able to provide globally asymptotical closed-loop stability. This new HTGR power-level control is composed by a helium temperature controller and a neutron flux controller. The former controller, which is located in the inner loop, regulates the primary helium flowrate according to the setpoint of helium temperature. While, the latter one in the outer loop revises the setpoint of helium temperature so as to regulate neutron flux. Numerical simulation results verify the theoretical result while showing the satisfactory performance as well as the influence from the controller parameters.

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Design of a Fuzzy FOPID Controller for Power Level Control of a Pressurized Water Reactor

Proceedings of the 2020 12th International Conference on Machine Learning and Computing ◽

10.1145/3383972.3384004 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Geoffry Kirui ◽

Junling Wang

Keyword(s):

Power Level ◽

Pressurized Water Reactor ◽

Level Control ◽

Pressurized Water ◽

Water Reactor

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The Power Level Control of a Pressurised Water Reactor Nuclear Power Plant

Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering - Intelligent Manufacturing and Mechatronics ◽

10.1007/978-981-13-9539-0_43 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 451-455

Author(s):

Jothi Letchumy Mahendra Kumar ◽

Anwar P. P. Abdul Majeed ◽

Muhammad Aizzat Zakaria ◽

Mohd Azraai Mohd Razman ◽

Mohd Ismail Khairuddin

Keyword(s):

Power Plant ◽

Nuclear Power Plant ◽

Nuclear Power ◽

Power Level ◽

Level Control ◽

Water Reactor

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Estimation of control rod worth, xenon effect on reactivity and power defect of BAEC TRIGA Mark-II research reactor

Modern Physics Letters A ◽

10.1142/s0217732318502334 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 33 (39) ◽

pp. 1850233

Author(s):

Md. Mehedi Hassan ◽

K. M. Jalal Uddin Rumi ◽

Md. Nazrul Islam Khan ◽

Rajib Goswami

Keyword(s):

Theoretical Analysis ◽

Low Power ◽

Temperature Effects ◽

Research Reactor ◽

Power Level ◽

Fuel Temperature ◽

Control Rod ◽

Full Power ◽

Triga Mark Ii ◽

Control Rods

In this work, control rod worth, xenon (Xe) effect on reactivity and power defect have been measured by doing experiments in the BAEC TRIGA Mark-II research reactor (BTRR) and through established theoretical analysis. Firstly, to study the xenon-135 effect on reactivity, reactor is critical at 2.4 MW for several hours. Next, experiments have been performed at very low power (50 W) to avoid temperature effects. Moreover, for the power defect experiment, different increasing power level has been tested by withdrawing the control rods. Finally, it is concluded that the total control rods worth of the BAEC TRIGA Mark-II research reactor, as determined through this study, is enough to run the reactor at full power (3 MW) considering the xenon-135 and fuel temperature effects.

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