LEO SZILARD National Physics Competition |
| FINAL 1999 Reactor Simulation Computer Exercise |
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When clicking on the PAX icon you can start a program that simulates the operation of a imaginary nuclear power plant. Objective: Your task is to conduct successfully a reactor campaign (300 days, maybe more). The computer indicates the end of the campaign by entering automatically the assessment menu. You should generate as much energy as possible without technical problems and stops. However, if an incident occurs do not give up, continue the competition, because the other participants can have similar problems. (The occurrence of an incident is just a bad sign and does not mean the end of the competition.) During assessment first of all the generated energy is considered (average power × days in operation), but the stability of power generation during the campaign, the occurrence of incidents and their severity will be reviewed as well. Introduction Before the “real” start you can play with the program for half an hour. During this period you can learn how to use it, the meaning of the indicated reactor parameters and behaviour of the reactor. We recommend you during the familiarisation to review not only the display of the “control room” but by pushing the buttons R, P, S to have a look consequently on the scheme of reactor, primary and secondary circuits. Pushing the button V brings you back to the control room. Pushing the button ESC causes a stop. Pushing the ENTER button leads you to the assessment menu (which appears automatically at the end of the campaign). Pushing the SPACE button will pause the time and the repeated pushing will cancel the pause. After the introduction you will have 30 minutes to conduct the campaign. (A campaign is considered completed when the fuel burn-up at least 100 units, the neutron flux is zero, the water temperatures are below 100 oC, the pumps are switched off and the xenon poisoning is less than 4%.) When beginning the real competition start again the program but do not escape it any more even at the end of the competition. Please notify a member of the jury about the end of the simulation, who will save your data necessary for assessment of your performance.
PAX REACTOR This reactor simulation program is modelling a reactor unit with 1375 MW thermal (440 MW electrical) power and the related components of the primary and secondary circuits. The reactor is pressurised water reactor, which means that the same water is used for moderating the neutrons and for transportation of the heat generated in the core. The fuel of the reactor is 235U isotope, with 2-3 % enrichment when loaded into the reactor (at the beginning of an approximately 10-month campaign), with a total mass of 40 tons. The water flowing through the core has the outlet temperature 295 oC (on 100 % power). The temperature increase in this case is 28 oC. On 100 % power the neutron flux is about 2·1013/cm2s. In this program it is normalised to 100 units (e). The fuel burn-up is 28 000 MW day/tons, in this case 100 units during the full campaign. Although there might exist in reality reactors with similar physical parameters all the similarity is by chance. This program is intended to demonstrate the major processes and not to simulate the operation of real reactors. The control rods must not be withdrawn rapidly because the core and other components might get overloaded and damaged. It is not reasonable to drop them back rapidly either, because it can lead to high xenon poisoning, which is a disadvantageous condition. |
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