Optimal design of nuclear reactor primary circuit volume

The volume evaluation models for the main equipments in the primary circuit are established by the optimal theories and taking the primary circuit volume as a performance evaluation index in the scheme design of a nuclear power plant. Based on the sensitivity analysis of thermal parameters and structural parameters which influence the volume of nuclear equipments in the primary circuit, the design is optimized using an improved complex method algorithm. The optimization result indicates that the volume of the optimized design is 13.15% less than that of the original design, which could provide a theoretic reference for the engineering design. (authors)