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Playing the “bad guy” to enhance next-generation safety
Sometimes, cops and robbers is more than just a kid’s game. At the Department of Energy’s national laboratories, researchers are channeling their inner saboteurs to discover vulnerabilities in next-generation nuclear reactors, making sure that they’re as safe as possible before they’re even constructed.
S. P. Gerhardt, D. Mastrovito, M. G. Bell, M. Cropper, D. A. Gates, E. Kolemen, J. Lawson, B. Marsala, J. E. Menard, D. Mueller, T. Stevenson
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 61 | Number 1 | January 2012 | Pages 11-18
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST12-A13336
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
We have designed and constructed a system for control of the normalized (N) in the National Spherical Torus Experiment [M. Ono et al., Nucl. Fusion, Vol. 40, p. 557 (2000)]. A proportional-integral-derivative operator is applied to the difference between the present value of N (from real-time equilibrium reconstruction) and a time-dependent request in order to calculate the required injected power. This injected power request is then turned into modulations of the neutral beams. The details of this algorithm are described, including the techniques used to develop the appropriate control gains. Example uses of the system are shown.