Model reference adaptive control of a nuclear reactor

In this paper an adaptive controller is presented for a nuclear reactor. Control of reactor power is important due to safety reasons. As we know nuclear reactors are nonlinear systems in nature, and their power increases continuously with time. Thus designing a controller is first of all necessary for making them stable. The method chosen here, is first designing a linear controller by using feedback linearization. Also we know that some reactor parameters vary as a function of power, fuel burnup and control rod worth. In the case of existence of such parameters in the plant, the output power of the system won't be as satisfactory as before. So here designing an adaptive controller seems to be inevitable. The proposed algorithm has a satisfying performance in tracking in presence of unknown changes in some of its parameters which will be told later. The simulation results will be also presented.