A new approach to the use of genetic algorithms to solve the pressurized water reactorʹs fuel management optimization problem

A Genetic Algorithm (GA) based system, coupling the computer codes GENESIS 5.0 and ANC through the interface ALGER has been developed aiming at pressurized water reactorʹs (PWR) fuel management optimization. An innovative codification, the List Model (LM), has been incorporated into the system. LM avoids the use of heuristic crossover operators and only generates valid nonrepetitive loading patterns in the reactor core. The LM has been used to solve the Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP). The results got for a benchmark problem were very satisfactory, in terms of precision and computational costs. The GENESIS/ ALGER/ANC system has been successfully tested in optimization studies for Angra 1 power plant reloads