Advanced Control Techniques for Nuclear Reactors

Modern control theory-based algorithms are applied to different models of the reactor core and primary heat transport loop subsystem of a liquid metal cooled nuclear reactor (LMR) module. A nonlinear and a linear model of the module subsystem are briefly presented. The concepts and control approaches corresponding to the theory of linear quadratic optimal control, model reference adaptive control, and input- output linearizing control are introduced and applied to the reactor under study. Operating and simulation conditions, as well as interpretation of results, are given for every case.