This paper presents a comparative study of different control design methods applied to a nuclear reactor model. A nuclear reactor temperature controller is designed using the H-infinity (H∞) control. This advanced controller is compared with a conventional Proportional–Integral–Derivative controller (PID) controller and a traditional optimal controller design using Linear Quadratic Gaussian (LQ...

In order to predict the water-vapor two-phase flow dynamics in a fuel bundle of an advanced light-water reactor, large-scale numerical simulations were performed using a highly parallel-vector supercomputer, the earth simulator. Although conventional analysis methods such as subchannel codes and system analysis codes need composition equations based on the experimental data, it is difficult to ...

In nuclear facilities, such as the experimental fusion reactor ITER, the cargo transfer operations can be performed by autonomous guided vehicles under remote supervision. In ITER, these vehicles can reach up to 100 tons and, with a rhombic-like configuration, have to move in cluttered scenarios. In case of failure, the vehicles have to be manually guided. This paper presents three solutions fo...

In this paper, discrete time higher integer order linear transfer function models have been identified first for a 500 MWe Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR) which has highly nonlinear dynamical nature. Linear discrete time models of the nonlinear nuclear reactor have been identified around eight different operating points (power reduction or step-back conditions) with least square estimato...

Relative to coal fired and natural gas fired power plants, nuclear power plants are more expensive to build but less expensive to run. This annex describes advanced construction methods to reduce nuclear power's construction costs, mainly by shortening the time needed to build a plant. Each of the methods described below has been used in one or more of the projects listed in Table IV-1. None is...

A review of the chemistry occurring inside a nuclear power plant during a serious reactor accident is presented. This includes some aspects of the behavior of nuclear fuel, its cladding, cesium and iodine. This review concentrates on the chemistry of an accident in a water-cooled reactor loaded with uranium dioxide or mixed metal oxide fuel. Subjects: Chemistry; Environmental Chemistry; Inorgan...

A simple, low reflection, and highly-efficient pilot-plant scale microwave irradiation reactor for woody biomass pretreatment was fabricated. Pretreatment is an essential process for effective bioethanol production. The fabricated reactor consists of 8 microwave irradiators which are attached to a metal pipe. The woody biomass mixture which contains water and organic acid flows through the meta...

A small tokamak-based fusion reactor can be attractive for actinide waste transmutation. Equilibrium concentrations of transuranium isotopes were estimated in a molten-salt based fusion transmutation reactor. Nuclear performance parameters were derived for two types of fusion-driven transmutation reactors: Pu-assisted and minor actinidesonly systems. The minor actinide-only burning system appea...