Operation and Control Simulation of a Modular High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactor Nuclear Power Plant

Issues in the operation and control of the multi-modular nuclear power plant are complicated. The high temperature gas cooled reactor pebble-bed module (HTR-PM) plant with two-module will be built as a demonstration plant in China. To investigate the operation and control characteristics of the plant, a simplified dynamic model is developed and mathematically formulated based upon the fundamental conversation of mass, energy and momentum. The model is implemented in a personal computer to simulate the power increase process of the HTR-PM operation. The open loop operation with no controller is first simulated and the results show that the essential parameter steam temperature varies drastically with time, which is not allowable in the normal operation. According to the preliminary control strategy of the HTR-PM, a simple steam temperature controller is proposed. The controller is of Proportional-type with a time lag. The closed loop operation with a steam temperature controller is then implemented and the simulation results show that the steam temperature and also other parameters are all well controlled in the allowable range.