Controller Design for a Nonlinear Pressurized Water Nuclear Reactor

Appropriate control systems design for any non-linear nuclear reactor is essential for efficient nuclear energy generation. This paper studies a design of a single linear controller for a nonlinear pressurized water nuclear reactor (PWNR). The considered model is point kinetics with one delayed neutron group, and the control objective is to track the reference reactor power of an uncertain nonlinear PWNR, while satisfying the desired specifications. The PWNR is linearized for the controller design, and a single linear PID controller is designed. The efficacy of the designed controller is tested on the nonlinear PWNR model for various test cases, including changes in reference reactor power levels and the controller performance in the presence of parametric uncertainty.