Mathematical Model of the Nuclear Fuel Refueling Mechanism of the BN-800 Reactor and Optimization of its operation

Abstract

In connection with the burning of nuclear fuel in the reactors of nuclear power plants, the nuclear fuel refueling procedure is periodically carried out. Part of the spent fuel assemblies is removed to the spent fuel pool. Some of them are rearranged inside the reactor to other places, and instead of the unloaded fuel assemblies, fresh fuel assemblies are loaded into the vacated places. The problem under consideration can be considered as a route problem with specific restrictions Beltyukov (2013); Korobkin (2012). The goal of the optimization route problem is to minimize the time spent on reloading fuel assemblies. This is motivated by the fact that the reactor stops during the refueling period and the nuclear power plant incurs material losses. Due to the fact that the optimality criterion is the total operating time of the mechanism, it is necessary to learn how to find the time spent on an elementary operation - moving the grip from one position to another. Knowing the time spent on elementary operations, we can calculate the time spent on the rearrangement of fuel assemblies for a given order of fuel assemblies movement. This work is devoted to the time-optimal algorithm for performing an elementary operation - transferring a grip from one position to another. Knowledge of such an algorithm will make it possible to construct an objective function for the route problem of permutation of fuel assemblies. © 2022 The Authors. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)