Performance evaluation of control strategies for power maneuvering event of the KALIMER-600

A sodium-cooled fast reactor named KALIMER-600 has been under development at KAERI. It is a pool-type reactor with the intermediate loops filled with sodium and has a superheated steam cycle with the once-through steam generators. Since the characteristic of the power control of the KALIMER-600 is expected to be different with that of a conventional power plant, the performance of the turbine-leading, reactor-leading and feedwater-leading control strategies for a power maneuvering event of the KALIMER-600 was evaluated in this study. The turbine-leading and reactor-leading strategies are very similar to those of a conventional water reactor but the feedwater-leading strategy is very similar to that of a fossil plant.Also, a performance analysis code which can analyze the plant dynamics of the KALIMER-600 and simulate the control actions during a power maneuvering event was developed. To evaluate the performance of control strategies, a simple power maneuvering event including a 10% step change and a ramp change with a rate of 5%/min was assumed and simulated.Through the simulation results, the turbine-leading strategy is proven to be very suitable for the KALIMER-600 and the feedwater-leading strategy for power maneuvering seems to be a good alternative for the power control. In further studies, various performance-related events such as the reactor power cutback, turbine runback and some transients will be evaluated and the best control strategy will be suggested.

► The performance of three power control strategies of the KALIMER-600 was evaluated.
► There are turbine-, reactor- and feedwater-leading strategies in this study.
► For this, a performance analysis code was developed in this study.
► Simulation results show the turbine-leading is the best alternative.
► The feedwater-leading seems to be the second option.