Safety-Critical and Stable Reactivity Nonlinear Control for Boiling Water Reactor

Safety and stability are critical for boiling water reactor (BWR) nuclear power plants, especially during load-following tasks. The nonlinear dynamics of BWRs pose significant challenges to controller design in maintaining states and outputs within safe operational ranges. This paper proposes a novel approach integrating a continuously differentiable Control Barrier Function (CBF) and a Control Lyapunov Function (CLF), constructed based on the system's dynamics and operational constraints, to ensure intrinsic safety and stability. The optimal control law is computed by solving a quadratic programming problem reformulated using semidefinite programming (SDP) with bilinear relaxation to minimize tracking errors effectively. Simulations demonstrate the controller's capability to guarantee safety and stability across both transient and steady-state conditions, providing a safe and robust solution for BWR control.