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Published: 2011

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Development and deployment of small-scale nuclear power reactors and their maintenance, monitoring, and control are part of the mission under the Small Modular Reactor (SMR) program. The objectives of this NERI-consortium research project are to investigate, develop, and validate advanced methods for sensing, controlling, monitoring, diagnosis, and prognosis of these reactors, and to demonstrate the methods with application to one of the proposed integral pressurized water reactors (IPWR). For this project, the IPWR design by Westinghouse, the International Reactor Secure and Innovative (IRIS), has been used to demonstrate the techniques developed under this project. The research focuses on three topical areas with the following objectives. Objective 1 - Develop and apply simulation capabilities and sensitivity/uncertainty analysis methods to address sensor deployment analysis and small grid stability issues. Objective 2 - Develop and test an autonomous and fault-tolerant control architecture and apply to the IRIS system and an experimental flow control loop, with extensions to multiple reactor modules, nuclear desalination, and optimal sensor placement strategy. Objective 3 - Develop and test an integrated monitoring, diagnosis, and prognosis system for SMRs using the IRIS as a test platform, and integrate process and equipment monitoring (PEM) and process and equipment prognostics (PEP) toolboxes. The research tasks are focused on meeting the unique needs of reactors that may be deployed to remote locations or to developing countries with limited support infrastructure. These applications will require smaller, robust reactor designs with advanced technologies for sensors, instrumentation, and control. An excellent overview of SMRs is described in an article by Ingersoll (2009). The article refers to these as deliberately small reactors. Most of these have modular characteristics, with multiple units deployed at the same plant site. Additionally, the topics focus on meeting two of the eight needs outlined in the recently published 'Technology Roadmap on Instrumentation, Control, and Human-Machine Interface (ICHMI) to Support DOE Advanced Nuclear Energy Programs' which was created 'to provide a systematic path forward for the integration of new ICHMI technologies in both near-term and future nuclear power plants and the reinvigoration of the U.S. nuclear ICHMI community and capabilities.' The research consortium is led by The University of Tennessee (UT) and is focused on three interrelated topics: Topic 1 (simulator development and measurement sensitivity analysis) is led by Dr. Mike Doster with Dr. Paul Turinsky of North Carolina State University (NCSU). Topic 2 (multivariate autonomous control of modular reactors) is led by Dr. Belle Upadhyaya of the University of Tennessee (UT) and Dr. Robert Edwards of Penn State University (PSU). Topic 3 (monitoring, diagnostics, and prognostics system development) is led by Dr. Wes Hines of UT. Additionally, South Carolina State University (SCSU, Dr. Ken Lewis) participated in this research through summer interns, visiting faculty, and on-campus research projects identified throughout the grant period. Lastly, Westinghouse Science and Technology Center (Dr. Mario Carelli) was a no-cost collaborator and provided design information related to the IRIS demonstration platform and defining needs that may be common to other SMR designs. The results of this research are reported in a six-volume Final Report (including the Executive Summary, Volume 1). Volumes 2 through 6 of the report describe in detail the research and development under the topical areas. This volume serves to introduce the overall NERI-C project and to summarize the key results. Section 2 provides a summary of the significant contributions of this project. A list of all the publications under this project is also given in Section 2. Section 3 provides a brief summary of each of the five volumes (2-6) of the report. The co ...