Stability monitoring of the Dodewaard boiling-water reactor

Methods for measuring the stability of a boiling-water are discussed. The results of experiments performed on the Dodewaard reactor (The Netherlands) are reported. Research on this reactor is of interest as it is cooled by natural circulation, a cooling principle that is also being considered for new reactor design. The stability of the Dodewaard reactor was studied both with deterministic methods (control-rod steps and pressure-valve movements) and by noise analysis. The latter method can be applied during normal operation and avoids any intentional system disturbance. Reactorkinetic stability, thermal-hydraulic stability and total-plant stability were investigated separately. It is shown that the Dodewaard reactor has very large stability margins. A simple yet reliable stability criterion is introduced; it was tested thorougly. It can be derived on-line from the noise signal of ex-vessel neutron detectors during normal operation. The sensitivity of neutron detectors to in-core flux perturbations was calculated in order to assure a proper stability surveillance. A novel technique is presented, which enables the variations of the in-core coolant velocity to be determined by noise correlation. The velocity measured was interpreted on the basis of experiments performed on the air/water flow in a model of a BWR coolant channel. It was observed that stability effects on the coolant velocity are masked by other effects originating from the local flow pattern. Experimental and theoretical studies were performed on the fuel time constant, a parameter of great importance to the reactor-kinetic stability. It is shown that the effective value of this constant can be much smaller than the value commonly agreed on (author). 71 figs.; 73 figs,; 21 tabs