Fuel performance under transients, and accident management using Geno-Fuzzy concept for nuclear reactors

Simulation of Pressurized Water Reactor Power Plant (PWR) has been investigated by simulating all components installed in the power plant namely: the reactor core, steam generator, pressurizer, reactor coolant pumps, and turbine. All plant components have been introduced. This simulator is useful for transient analysis studies, engineering designs, safety analysis, and accident management. Accidents in Pressurized Water Reactor Nuclear Power Plant (PWR NPP) may be occurred either due to component failures or human error during maintenance or operation. The main target of accident management is to mitigate accidents if it occurs. The Geno-Fuzzy concept is the way to select some important plant state variables as a gene for the overall plant state chromosome. The selected genes are: reactor power, primary coolant pressure, steam generator water level, and onset boiling on clad surface which has direct impact on fuel behavior. Each of these genes has associated fuzzy level. The main objective of Geno-Fuzzy is turning the plant gene from abnormal states to the normal state by associated control variable using the inference wise fuzzy technique. The Pressurized Water Reactor Nuclear Power Plant simulator has been tested for a typical PWR, for normal transients, Anticipated Transient Without Scram (ATWS), and using the proposed Geno-Fuzzy concept for accident management, which gives very good results in reactor accident mitigation. Some of these tested accidents are; reactor control rod ejection, change in turbine steam load, and loss of coolant flow, which have direct effects on fuel safety and performance. The parameters affecting the behavior of the reactor fuel integrity are analyzed to be considered in future reactor designs. (author)