Optimization of refueling times in fast neutron reactors

Abstract

Abstract The importance of solving issues of increasing energy efficiency and energy saving for the development of the Russian economy was emphasized. The main directions of increasing the energy efficiency of the nuclear power industry (increasing the efficiency of using primary fuel and reducing the shutdown time of the power unit for repair and reloading of nuclear fuel) are highlighted. The importance of route optimization in solving applied problems of nuclear power is updated, in particular, in minimizing the time of nuclear fuel reloading, increasing the utilization factor of the installed capacity of NPP power units. The necessity of periodic reloading of nuclear fuel in reactors has been substantiated. The features of nuclear fuel reloading in thermal and fast neutron reactors are presented. The necessity of using in fast neutron reactors a system for guiding a capture on a fuel assembly using eccentrically located rotary plugs is substantiated. The necessity and importance of optimization of the process of guidance and movement of the overload mechanism in order to reduce the time to stop the power unit is shown. Mathematical models for the mechanisms of reloading fuel assemblies have been built. Time-optimal algorithms for the operation of overload mechanisms with two and three rotating plugs are proposed.