Coordinated Control of a Small Pressurized Water Reactor

Abstract

Small Pressurized Water Reactors (SPWR) are different from those of the commercial large Pressurized Water Reactors (PWRs). There are no hot legs and cold legs between the reactor core and the steam generators like in the PWR. The coolant inventory is in a large amount. The inertia of the coolant is large and it takes a long time for the primary system to respond to disturbances. Once-through steam generator is adopted and its water inventory is small. It is very sensitive to disturbances. These unique characteristics challenge the control system design of an SPWR. Relap5 is used to model an SPWR. In the reactor power control system, both the reactor power and the coolant average temperature are regulated by the control rod reactivity. In the feedwater flow control system, the coordination between the reactor and the turbine is considered and coolant average temperature is adopted as one measurable disturbance to balance them. The coolant pressure is adjusted based on the heaters and spray in the pressurizer. The water level in the pressurizer is controlled by the charging flow. Transient simulations are carried out to evaluate the control system performance. When the reactor is perturbed, the reactor can be stabilized under the control system.