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Optimal fuel core loading pattern design in PWR nuclear power reactors using genetic algorithms and fuzzy nonlinear programming

Boroushaki, M ; Sharif University of Technology | 2003

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  1. Type of Document: Article
  2. Publisher: 2003
  3. Abstract:
  4. In pressurized water reactors, the fuel reloading problem has significant meaning in terms of both safety and economics. An optimal loading pattern is defined as a pattern in which the local power peaking factor (Pq) is lower than a predetermined value during one cycle and the effective multiplication factor (keff) is maximized to extract the maximum energy. This article presents a specialized genetic algorithm for loading pattern design. The tests on well-researched cases have shown that the genetic algorithm is capable of finding better loading patterns than solutions found by direct search methods. However, most of the previous researchers have considered simple fitness (cost) functions; therefore the reported solutions cannot minimize the Pq together with maximization of the keff. To solve this difficulty, we used Fuzzy Nonlinear Programming (FNLP) technique with the genetic algorithm to perform multi-objective optimization (maximizing the keff together with minimizing the Pq). The results show that this method improves the genetic algorithm results compared to previous methods
  5. Keywords:
  6. Combinatorial mathematics ; Problem solving ; Pressurized water reactors ; Nonlinear programming ; Fuzzy sets
  7. Source: Journal of Intelligent and Fuzzy Systems ; Volume 14, Issue 2 , 2003 , Pages 85-93 ; 10641246 (ISSN)
  8. URL: https://content.iospress.com/articles/journal-of-intelligent-and-fuzzy-systems/ifs00206