| dc.description.abstract | Since the 2019 Climate Change and the Role of the Nuclear Power International Conference and the Paris agreement goal, the international community started to be interested in nuclear power. Small modular reactors (SMRs) can reduce global warming effects and help to achieve net zero emission objectives. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) collected SMR design data for several years. Compared to conventional reactors, small modular reactors usually connect to micro or mini electricity grids, which are more sensitive to the reactor parameters’ fluctuations. Therefore, this research analyzes the small modular reactor’s oscillations and performances via the IAEA small modular reactor simulators. The analysis is performed using the IAEA i-PWR simulator.
The scenario plots are in reference to the regular nominal nuclear power plant operations, such as base-load and load-following modes. A range of operational parameters have been explored such as normalized power levels of 100%, 75%, 50%, and 25% in transients for 6, 12, 24, 48, and 72 hours. The reactor transient performance shows that the fluctuations of normalized power are related to the xenon-135 concentration and control rod worth’s oscillations. The lower power level cases have more sensitivity to the xenon concentration fluctuations. The trend of the lower power level, except for 25% cases, shows delayed behavior. The load-following scenarios for normalized power and generator load correspond to the base-load mode. The deviation variations do not change significantly, whether base-load or load-following are selected. However, when increasing the operation time in the base-load mode, the standard deviation of normalized power and generator load may increase or decrease depending on the power level of operations. | |
