Linear stability analysis of thorium fuelled AHWR

Linear stability analysis of thorium fuelled advance heavy water reactor (AHWR) has been carried out using frequency domain techniques viz., Bode plot and Nyquist plots. The Routh Hurwitz criterion has also been applied to assess the nature of poles of the characteristic equation. A theoretical model to study the neutronic stability of the AHWR has been developed and a closed-loop transfer function of AHWR has been established, which involves the neutronics and reactivity feedback transfer functions. Analytical findings of the stability analyses using three different methods reveal that the neutronic behavior of the reactor is stable with sufficient stability margins. (author)