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Conference Spotlight
2026 Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
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The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
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Latest News
Blades-in turbine inspections at Quad Cities set new benchmark for Constellation
When Constellation decided to install replacement Alstom low-pressure turbines at three of its boiling water reactor plants more than 15 years ago, one benefit was knowing the new turbines should operate reliably—and without major inspections—for several years.
Adam Rau, James Turso (Penn State)
Proceedings | Nuclear Plant Instrumentation, Control, and Human-Machine Interface Technolgies (NPIC&HMIT 2019) | Orlando, FL, February 9-14, 2019 | Pages 1352-1360
Maintaining system stability is an important task for operators of nuclear reactors. Automatic control can be a valuable tool in achieving this, however many modern control methods require a model of the system. These models may not account for changes in system parameters resulting from continued use or different operating points. Robust control techniques can account for such uncertainties, guaranteeing stability provided that plant parameters and dynamics remain within specified uncertainty bounds. The present work applies robust control methods to design a controller for the Penn State Breazeale Reactor (PSBR). The impact of wear on the control rod drive mechanism and changes resulting from different reactor power set points are considered. A Simulink model of the PSBR from [1] was linearized and simplified for the purpose of controller design. The model uses the normalized point-kinetics equations and core-averaged thermal-hydraulics. H? control synthesis methods were used to accommodate changes in power level and wear in the control rod drive mechanisms. System stability was verified on a Simulink model, and controller performance was compared to a proportional controller.