Power control of pressurized water reactors in nuclear power plants based on Active Disturbance Rejection Control

With the adjustment and optimization of the domestic power production structure, the proportion of traditional energy sources such as thermal power decreases year by year, and clean energy sources such as nuclear power and hydropower begin to play a greater role. To overcome the problems of insufficient power consumption and large load fluctuations, the participation of nuclear power plants in peaking to alleviate the severe peaking pressure faced by the power system is a proven solution. Most domestic nuclear power plants currently use pressurized water reactors, which are a nonlinear, time-varying controlled object subject to a variety of perturbations and many uncertainties. The existing pressurized water reactor power control system is difficult to achieve fast and smooth regulation at different power levels and fuel consumption, so that the nuclear power plant can meet the requirements of participating in peaking operation. Active Disturbance Rejection Control (ADRC) methods are able to deal with complex and uncertain systems, and all uncertainties are reduced to “unknown disturbances” to be estimated and compensated, which is highly resistant to disturbances and robustness. In this paper, ADRC is used to realize the control of pressurized water reactor power, and a new type of nonlinear tracking differentiator is selected in the construction of ADRC controller to improve the accuracy and dynamic performance of the control. A simulation model of the pressurized water reactor power control was developed using MATLAB and parameter tuning was performed. Simulation results show that the ADRC control strategy has fast response, small overshoot, and high control accuracy, and can effectively overcome external disturbances and internal uncertainties to achieve effective control of pressurized water reactor power.