GB1417914A - Nuclear power plant - Google Patents

Abstract

1417914 Nuclear power plant SIEMENS AG 12 Feb 1973 [10 Feb 1972] 6849/73 Heading G6C Nuclear power plant in which the heat output of the reactor 1 is regulated as a function of the demand for steam by a steam-driven electrical generator 23, includes a datum source 30 which presents to the generator 23 a demand independent of the demand presented by an external load 24 whereby an upper limit is set to the electrical power (which can be generated by the generator 23) in response to an incipient condition of departure from nucleate boiling of the reactor coolant. In normal operation, control rods 3 are moved to vary core reactivity in response to steam demand changes of the turbine 17 as determined by thermometers 25 which sense the mean value of the primary coolant in the circuit 14. Various parameters of reactor operation, e.g. neutron flux, temperature, pressure, &c., are measured by instruments 5, 38, 39, 40 connected to a computer 31 which determines when the incipient condition of departure from nucleate boiling and commencement of film boiling exists. The computer 31 regulates the datum source 30 accordingly and the reactor heat output is thus reduced by movement of the control rods 3. In a modification, an electronic model 37 simulates the reactor in respect of data essential for determining the incipient condition. The computer 36 may receive signals from the aforesaid instruments via line 6, although simulation is possible without transmission of actual values from the reactor. To this end, analogue simulation may be provided.