Design of Advanced Integrated Reactor Protection System for Commercial Fast Breeder Reactor

Abstract

Shutdown systems are one of the most important one for the safety of the reactor core. In case of any abnormal event or any parameter going abnormal or otherwise, it trips the reactor. Hence this system should be highly reliable. The reliability of the Present shutdown system could not be improved beyond a certain limit, due to many interconnections between the sub systems in the safety chain. i.e. Different sensors, processing electronics, safety logic are located physically at different and far off locations connected with cables, passing through cable trays, penetrations and buildings. New design configuration has been proposed, where there is only single system (PCB) comprising of processing electronics and comparison with thresholds, with voting logic built into the control rods itself. This eliminates the need for one exclusive safety logic system. With this design, the reliability promised to be more than the existing system, without the need for more than one shutdown system. With this design, the reliability promised to be more than the existing system, without the need for more than one shutdown system. The thesis discusses the details of the design made and improvements in the reliability factor.