An advanced reduced order model for BWR stability analysis

Abstract

An advanced reduced order model was developed and qualified in the framework of a novel approach for nonlinear stability analysis of boiling water nuclear reactors (BWRs). This approach is called the RAM–ROM method where RAM is a synonym for system code and ROM stands for reduced order model. In the framework of the RAM–ROM method, integrated BWR (system) codes and reduced order models are used as complementary tools to examine the stability characteristics of fixed points and periodic solutions of the nonlinear differential equations describing the stability behaviour of a BWR loop. This methodology is a novel one in a specific sense: we analyse the highly nonlinear processes of BWR dynamics by applying validated system codes and by the sophisticated methods of nonlinear dynamics, e.g. bifurcation analysis. We claim and we will show that the combined application of independent methodologies to examine nonlinear stability behaviour can increase the reliability of BWR stability analysis. This work is a continuation of previous work at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI, Switzerland) of the second author and at the University of Illinois (USA) in this field. In the scope of a PhD work at the Technical University Dresden (Germany), the current ROM was extended to an advanced ROM by adding a recirculation loop model, a quantitative assessment of the necessity for consideration of the effect of sub-cooled boiling and a new calculation methodology for feedback reactivity. A crucial point of ROM qualification is a new calculation procedure for ROM input data based on steady-state RAM (ONA) results. The modified ROM is coupled with the BIFDD bifurcation code which performs a semi-analytical bifurcation analysis (see Appendix C). In this paper, the advanced ROM (TU Dresden ROM, TUD-ROM) is briefly described and the results of a nonlinear BWR stability analysis based on the RAM–ROM method are summarised for NPP Leibstadt, NPP Ringhals and NPP Brunsbüttel. The results show that the TUD-ROM including the new approach for ROM input data calculation is qualified for BWR stability analysis in the framework of the RAM–ROM method.