Control Strategy Investigation for a Multi-Purpose Modular Small Pressurized Water Reactor With Once-Through Steam Generators

A new multi-purpose modular small pressurized water reactor with once-through steam generators is being designed in China. Its key parameters are different from traditional large pressurized water reactor. There are sixteen once-through steam generators divided into two groups inside of the pressure vessel. The four coolant pumps are located on the periphery of the pressure vessel. The coolant is heated by the core and transported the heat to the secondary loop by once-through steam generators. The superheated steam is generated, and its dynamics are different from those of U-tube steam generators. The relationship between the reactor and turbine is also complicated and needs to investigate. The control strategies of traditional large pressurized water reactor cannot be applied directly to the small reactor with once-through steam generators. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate suitable control strategies of the multi-purpose modular small reactor with once-through steam generators. Three control strategies are proposed and investigated in this study: turbine-leading, reactor-leading and feedwater-leading. With the reactor-leading strategy, the reactor power is adjusted by moving the control rod. The coolant temperature follows the change of the reactor power. Feedwater flow is applied to regulate the steam pressure. The steam flow rate follows the change of the feedwater flow rate to satisfy the demand power. With the turbine-leading strategy, the steam valve is adjusted which will influence the steam flow to satisfy the demand power. The feedwater-leading control strategy is adjusting the feed water flow rate corresponding to the demand power which has been measured. And reactor power and turbine load vary with feedwater flow rate. Input-output pairings of the control systems are determined based on the different strategies and proportion-integral-derivative (PID) controllers are tuned to meet the control requirements. To evaluate the performance of control strategies, power maneuvering events including a 10%FP (Full Power) step change and a ramp change with a rate of 5%FP/min are simulated. The processes of important control parameters varying with time are compared and evaluated to obtain the suitable one. Conclusions can be drawn from the simulation analyses of the control performance. The reactor-leading control strategy is best for the base-load operation. The turbine-leading control strategy is more suitable for load-following operation. The feedwater leading control strategy can be applied to load-following operation with smooth load adjustment.