AN EXPERT SYSTEM OPERATOR AID FOR NUCLEAR POWER PLANT MANEUVERS

THE SAFE, RELIABLE, AND EFFICIENT OPERATION OF NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS REQUIRES ADVANCED OPERATOR DECISION AIDS AS WELL AS CONTROL AND PROTECTION SYSTEMS. A PREDICTIVE EXPERT SYSTEM FOR PLANNING POWER MANEUVERS WILL BE INVESTIGATED AS ONE SUCH OPERATOR AID. IN THE PHASE I WORK THE FEASIBILITY OF THE SYSTEM WILL BE DEMONSTRATED VIA A ROBUST NEUTRONICS MODEL, USING THE TRANSIENT FEW-GROUP NEUTRON DIFFUSION EQUATIONS. THE MODEL WILL OPERATE IN A PREDICTIVE MODE AND WILL BE DESIGNED TO BENEFIT, IN LATER STUDIES, FROM RECENT ADVANCES IN MICRO- AND MINICOMPUTER-BASED PARALLEL ARCHITECTURES. THE INPUT PLANT SENSOR SIGNALS TO THE MODEL WILL BE SIMULATED BY AN EXISTING CODE NAMED NATO. THE EXPERT TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION SYSTEM WILL COMBINE OBSERVATIONS, EXPERIENCE, INSIGHT, RULES OF GOOD PRACTICE, PLAUSIBLE REASONING, AND KNOWLEDGE OF WIDELY ACCEPTED PROCEDURES AND METHODS. EXPERIENCE WILL BE OBTAINED FROM INTERVIEWING REACTOR OPERATORS, REACTOR OPERATING TRAINING PERSONNEL, AND CONSULTANTS. TWO MANEUVERS WILL BE USED TO DEMONSTRATE THE MODEL: (1) RECOVERY TO FULL POWER FROM A REACTOR TRIP AT FULL POWER AND (2) POWER REDUCTION FROM FULL POWER AT A CONSTANT RATE, OPERATION AT REDUCED POWER FOR A GIVEN TIME, AND RETURN TO FULL POWER WITHIN A SPECIFIED TIME PERIOD. THE NEUTRONICS MODEL WILL BE CONSTRUCTED SO AS TO BE ENHANCED AND INTEGRATED EASILY WITH A THERMAL/HYDRAULICS MODEL IN PHASE II. BOTH MODELS WILL THEN BE IMPLEMENTED ON A HOST MINI/MULTIPROCESSOR COMPUTER TO ACHIEVE REAL-TIME PERFORMANCE. PLANT SENSOR SIGNALS WILL BE OBTAINED FROM A PWR (PRESSURIZED WATER REACTOR) SIMULATION LOOP THAT IS CURRENTLY UNDER INDEPENDENT DEVELOPMENT AND, IF POSSIBLE, ON A REACTOR TRAINING SIMULATOR. IN PHASE II THE INTEGRATED EXPERT SYSTEM WILL BE IMPLEMENTED IN THE OPS5 (OFFICIAL PRODUCTION SYSTEM, VERSION 5) FRAMEWORK.