The online simulation of core physics in nuclear power plant

The three-dimensional power distribution in core is one of the most important status variables of nuclear reactor. In order to monitor the 3-D in core power distribution timely and accurately, the online simulation system of core physics was designed in the paper. This system combines core physics simulation with the data, which is from the plant and reactor instrumentation. The design of the system consists of the hardware part and the software part. The online simulation system consists of a main simulation computer and a simulation operation station. The online simulation system software includes of the real-time simulation support software, the system communication software, the simulation program and the simulation interface software. Two-group and three-dimensional neutron kinetics model with six groups delayed neutrons was used in the real-time simulation of nuclear reactor core physics. According to the characteristics of the nuclear reactor, the core was divided into many nodes. Resolving the neutron equation, the method of separate variables was used. The input data from the plant and reactor instrumentation system consist of core thermal power, loop temperatures and pressure, control rod positions, boron concentration, core exit thermocouple data, Excore detector signals, in core flux detectors signals. There are two purposes using the data, one is to ensure that the model is as close as the current actual reactor condition, and the other is to calibrate the calculated power distribution. In this paper, the scheme of the online simulation system was introduced. Under the real-time simulation support system, the simulation program is being compiled. Compared with the actual operational data, the elementary simulation results were reasonable and correct. (author)