Nuclear Engineering and Design 262 (2013) 319–339 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Nuclear Engineering and Design j ourna l h om epa ge: www.elsevier.com/locate/nucengdes Development of a control-oriented simulator for a LFR demonstrator S. Lorenzi a , R. Ponciroli a , A. Cammi a,∗ , S. Bortot b a Politecnico di Milano, Department of Energy, CeSNEF-Nuclear Engineering Division, via Ponzio 34/3, 20133 Milano, Italy b KTH, Division of Reactor Physics, AlbaNova University Centre, Roslagstullsbacken 21, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden h i g h l i g h t s • A control-oriented dynamics simulator for an advanced small LFR has been developed. • Flexibility, straightforwardness and fast-running features have been sought. • The model consists in 5 parts: core, SG, primary pump, cold and hot legs, and pool. • A non-linear lumped-parameter approach has been adopted to describe all components. • The reactor responses to five typical transient initiators have been investigated. a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 7 October 2012 Received in revised form 19 April 2013 Accepted 22 April 2013 a b s t r a c t In this work, the development of a control-oriented dynamics simulator for a Generation IV Lead-cooled Fast Reactor (LFR) demonstrator has been undertaken aimed at providing a very flexible and straight- forward – though accurate – fast-running tool allowing to perform transient design-basis and stability analyses, and laying the foundations for the study of the system control strategy. The simulator, real- ized in the MATLAB/SIMULINK ® environment, is composed of five essential parts: core, steam generator, primary pump, collectors, and coolant cold pool. An analytical lumped-parameter core model has been developed to treat the coupling between neutronics and thermal-hydraulics. For the steam generator a moving boundary approach has been adopted, allowing to get the physical behavior while satisfying the controller specifications, besides assuring coherence with the zero-dimensional core modeling. The complete primary loop model has been assembled by connecting the above-mentioned main subsys- tems through the hot and cold collectors, and by adding the remaining components blocks. Five different transients have been then simulated to analyze the whole system dynamic behavior in a control-oriented perspective: three scenarios have been initiated by acting on the secondary water side (i.e., enhancement of feedwater mass flow rate and temperature, and turbine admission valve coefficient variation), and two by perturbing the primary side nominal state (i.e., simulations of Unprotected Loss of Flow, ULOF, and of Unprotected Transient of OverPower, UTOP). As a major outcome, it can be stated that the free dynamics simulations results are very satisfactory, and they may constitute the basis and provide the means for conceiving suitable control strategies for the innovative small-size LFR systems currently under development. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The development of a control-oriented dynamics simulator for a Generation IV Lead-cooled Fast Reactor (LFR) demonstra- tor (DEMO) (Bortot et al., 2010, 2012) has been undertaken with the objective of providing a useful tool allowing to inves- tigate fundamental dynamics aspects specifically needed for the ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 02 2399 6332. E-mail addresses: stefano.lorenzi@mail.polimi.it (S. Lorenzi), roberto.ponciroli@mail.polimi.it (R. Ponciroli), antonio.cammi@polimi.it, antonio.cammi@gmail.com (A. Cammi), bortot@kth.se (S. Bortot). finalization of both the system configuration and control strat- egy. Advanced reactor concepts cooled by Heavy Liquid Metals Coolants (HLMCs) offer a great potential for plant simplifications and higher operating efficiencies compared to other coolants, introducing however additional safety concerns and design chal- lenges, and thus necessitating a verifiable computational tool for transient design-basis analysis. This capability would enable ana- lysts to compare operational and safety characteristics of design alternatives, and to evaluate relative performance advantages with a consistent measure. Bortot (2011) has demonstrated that an innovative LFR system needs to be studied by adopting a comprehensive approach 0029-5493/$ – see front matter © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2013.04.027