Icone23-1934 a formulation of rod based nonlinear model predictive control of nuclear reaction with temperature effects and xenon poisoning

This paper presents a formulation of a nonlinear model predictive controller for steering of a nuclear reaction in a pressurized water reactor via control rod displacement. The predictive model, based on point kinetic equations, includes an averaged delayed neutron group, thermal dependence on reactivity, heat exchange between temperature and moderator and Xenon poisoning. From the model, a finite horizon optimal control problem is cast in the form of a control Hamiltonian minimization. A basic gradient descent scheme is derived to solve the optimal control problem. The predictive model and gradient descent are used to form the basis from which the model predictive controller is formulated.