Optimisation of nuclear reactor primary coolant design and maintenance parameters

Abstract

An optimisation methodology is presented using the primary coolant circulation system of a nuclear reactor as its case study, the purpose of which is to find combinations of selected design and maintenance parameters to maximise the reactor safety and minimise monetary expenditure. The parameter space was sampled by a Monte Carlo method and Petri net modelling was used to predict the performance of each of these options. The optimal solutions were then extracted from the data via computation of the Pareto front, with further analysis conducted on parameter sets of interest.