Explicit model predictive controller for power control of molten salt breeder reactor core

Abstract

The molten salt breeder reactor (MSBR) uses liquid molten salt as fuel. The modeling of the control system for power control of the MSBR core is difficult due to the fuel fluidity. To solve this problem, an explicit model predictive control technique is adopted. First, the nonlinear modeling of the MSBR core is presented. Then, a linearized single-input-single-output model is established from the nonlinear MSBR core model. As the model predictive controller (MPC) has good control effect in tracking problems, an explicit MPC (EMPC) is designed for MSBR to control the power in core. The control of core power in the MSBR is studied for examples of load-following. Results of this study show that the power of MSBR core can be well-controlled by adopting EMPC.