A nonlinear xenon estimator for on-line control of large PWRs

In countries with a large portion of electric power production by nuclear energy a highload change capability of the installed nuclear power plants is required. To determine an optimum control law for the reactor types today mostly in operation the reconstruction of the non-observable xenon concentration is a basic requirement. The paper presents the equations of a nonlinear 3D-xenon estimator which is designed to process measuring signals of self-powered n, β-incore detectors. Since the estimator can directly be coupled to the process the medium-term burn-up is automatically taken into account. (orig.)