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Latest News
INL researchers use LEDs to shed light on next-gen reactors
At Idaho National Laboratory, researchers have built a bridge between computer models and the lab’s Microreactor Applications Research Validation and Evaluation (MARVEL) microreactor.
Tony Crawford, an INL researcher and MARVEL’s reactivity control system lead, designed a phone booth–sized surrogate nuclear reactor called ViBRANT, or Visual Benign Reactor as Analog for Nuclear Testing, which uses light instead of neutrons to show a “nuclear” reaction.
Huirui Han, Chao Zhang
Nuclear Technology | Volume 210 | Number 5 | May 2024 | Pages 836-849
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2023.2249710
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Canada has proposed the supercritical water–cooled reactor (SCWR) concept as one of the Generation IV nuclear reactors. In the SCWR power plant, the supercritical water is heated in the reactor and then flows to the turbine directly. Therefore, knowledge of the dynamic behaviors of the system is necessary for the stable operation of the power plant. There is still a lack of study on the control system for the proposed SCWR power plant. In this study, a dynamic model for the entire SCWR power plant is constructed that includes the reactor, turbine, condenser, and feedwater pump. Based on the model, the open-loop characteristics of the system when subjected to perturbations in the inputs are analyzed. Subsequently, a feedback control strategy is adopted to regulate the outputs of the system when there are disturbances. The evaluation of the performance of the control system shows that the proposed control system can return the plant back to the operating conditions effectively.