• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.48 no.6
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• pp.1349-1359
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• 2016

Alternative control schemes for an Advanced High Temperature Reactor system consisting of a reactor, an intermediate heat exchanger, and a secondary heat exchanger (SHX) are presented in this paper. One scheme is designed to control the cold outlet temperature of the SHX ($T_{co}$) and the hot outlet temperature of the intermediate heat exchanger ($T_{ho2}$) by manipulating the hot-side flow rates of the heat exchangers ($F_h/F_{h2}$) responding to the flow rate and temperature disturbances. The flow rate disturbances typically require a larger manipulation of the flow rates than temperature disturbances. An alternate strategy examines the control of the cold outlet temperature of the SHX ($T_{co}$) only, since this temperature provides the driving force for energy production in the power conversion unit or the process application. The control can be achieved by three options: (1) flow rate manipulation; (2) reactor power manipulation; or (3) a combination of the two. The first option has a quicker response but requires a large flow rate change. The second option is the slowest but does not involve any change in the flow rates of streams. The third option appears preferable as it has an intermediate response time and requires only a minimal flow rate change.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.369-378
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• 2012

A load-following operation in APR+ nuclear plants is necessary to reduce the need to adjust the boric acid concentration and to efficiently control the control rods for flexible operation. In particular, a disproportion in the axial flux distribution, which is normally caused by a load-following operation in a reactor core, causes xenon oscillation because the absorption cross-section of xenon is extremely large and its effects in a reactor are delayed by the iodine precursor. A model predictive control (MPC) method was used to design an automatic load-following controller for the integrated thermal power level and axial shape index (ASI) control for APR+ nuclear plants. Some tracking controllers employ the current tracking command only. On the other hand, the MPC can achieve better tracking performance because it considers future commands in addition to the current tracking command. The basic concept of the MPC is to solve an optimization problem for generating finite future control inputs at the current time and to implement as the current control input only the first control input among the solutions of the finite time steps. At the next time step, the procedure to solve the optimization problem is then repeated. The support vector regression (SVR) model that is used widely for function approximation problems is used to predict the future outputs based on previous inputs and outputs. In addition, a genetic algorithm is employed to minimize the objective function of a MPC control algorithm with multiple constraints. The power level and ASI are controlled by regulating the control banks and part-strength control banks together with an automatic adjustment of the boric acid concentration. The 3-dimensional MASTER code, which models APR+ nuclear plants, is interfaced to the proposed controller to confirm the performance of the controlling reactor power level and ASI. Numerical simulations showed that the proposed controller exhibits very fast tracking responses.

• Proceedings of the KWS Conference
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.241-243
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• 2005

• 전기의세계
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.58-62
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• 1978

The problem of optimal shutdown control of nuclear reactor having nonlinear dynamics is considered. Since the problem, being a bounded state space problem, is difficult to solve by conventional analytic methods such as Pontryagin's maximum principle, it is approached directly by the quasilinearization technique, and solved numerically. The solution obtained in this manner proves to be an improvement over the previous results.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.571-576
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• 2023

The initial development plans for the six reactor designs, soon after the release of Generation IV International Forum (GIF) TRM in 2002, were characterized by high ambition [1]. Specifically, the sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR) and very-high temperature reactor (VHTR) gained significant attention and were expected to reach the validation stage by the 2020s, with commercial viability projected for the 2030s. However, these projections have been unrealized because of various factors. The development of reactor designs by the GIF was supposed to be influenced by events such as the 2008 global financial crisis, 2011 Fukushima accident [2, 3], discovery of extensive shale oil reserves in the United States, and overly ambitious technological targets. Consequently, the momentum for VHTR development reduced significantly. In this context, the aims of this study were to compare and analyze the development progress of the six Gen IV reactor designs over the past 20 years, based on the GIF roadmaps published in 2002 and 2014. The primary focus was to examine the prospects for the reactor designs in relation to spent nuclear fuel burning in conjunction with small modular reactor (SMR), including molten salt reactor (MSR), which is expected to have spent nuclear fuel management potential.

• Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.552-558
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• 2016

A control rod drive mechanism(CRDM) is a reactor regulating system, which inserts, withdraws or maintains a control rod within a reactor core to control the reactivity of the core. The CRDM for Jordan Research and Training Reactor with 5MW power has been designed and fabricated based on the HANARO’s experience through KAERI and DAEWOO consortium. This paper describes the seismic test results to demonstrate the operability, the drop performance and the structural integrity of CRDM during or after seismic excitations. The seismic tests are carried out under 5 OBE and 1 SSE loads at three Test Rigs simulating the reactor structure and the pool top. From the tests, the CRDM is smoothly driven without a malfunction of stepping motor under OBE load. The pure drop time under OBE and SSE loads is measured as 1.169s and 1.855s to meet the design requirement. Also, it is found that the CRDM maintains the structural integrity without a change of the function and natural frequency before and after seismic loads.

• The KSFM Journal of Fluid Machinery
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.5-11
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• 2015

In a pressurized water reactor (PWR), control rod assembly (CRA) falls into the guide tubes of a fuel assembly due to gravity for scram. Various theoretical approaches and numerical analyses have been performed because its shape is simple and its design was completely developed several decades ago. A control rod assembly for a sodium-cooled faster reactor (SFR) which is geometrically more complicated is being actively developed in Korea nowadays. Drop time and impact velocity of a CRA are important parameters with respect to reactivity insertion time and the mechanical robustness of a CRA and a guide duct. In this paper, computational method considering simultaneously the equation of motion for rigid body and the Navier-Stokes equations for fluid is suggested and verified by comparison with theoretical analysis results. Through this valuable CFD analysis method, drop time and impact velocity of initially designed SFR CRA are evaluated before performing scram tests with it.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.12-16
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• 2007

Temperature control of an autothermal methanol reforming reactor which uses the copper-zinc oxide catalyst was studied. Temperature at 1cm below the hot-spot point in the reactor was used for the controlled variable, and the air flow rate was used for the manipulated variable. A first order plus time delay model was identified and controller parameters were obtained by applying the IMC-PI tuning rule to the identified model. With this controller, we could control the reforming reactor temperature within ${\pm}5^{\circ}C$ over 100 hours. Change of the hot-spot point due to the catalyst degradation was investigated and it could be used to design an adaptive controller.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.2600-2605
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• 2003

The PBL (Poly-butadiene Latex) production process is a typical batch process. Changes of the reactor characteristics due to the accumulated scaling with the increase of batch cycles require adaptive tuning of the PID controller being used. In this work we propose a tuning method for PID controllers based on the closed-loop identification and the genetic algorithm (GA) and apply it to control the PBL process. An approximated process transfer function for the PBL reactor is obtained from the closed-loop data using a suitable closed-loop identification method. Tuning is performed by GA optimization in which the objective function is given by ITAE for the setpoint change. The proposed tuning method showed good control performance in actual operations.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2001.06d
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• pp.921-926
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• 2001

The reliability and accuracy of the information on control rod position are very important to the reactor safety and the design of the core protection system. In this study, a thorough investigation on the RSPT(Reed Switch Position Transmitter) type control rod position indication system and its actual implementation in the exiting nuclear power plants in Korea was performed first. A design of the control rod position indication system using reed switch for the CEDM on the system-integrated reactor SMART was developed based on the position indicator technology identified through the investigation. The feasibility of the design was evaluated by test of manufactured control rod position indicator using reed switch for SMART.