Regulating power delivered by pressurised water nuclear power station - utilising reserve of energy contained in sec. feed water tank allowing redn. in control rods regulation

摘要

Process for the prim. regulation of the electrical power supplied by a pressured water reactor in a nuclear power station, comprising in the sec. circuit a condenser, a feed water tank and means of regulating the flow of water from the condenser to the feed tank, consists of operating those means to vary the flow in one sense or the other to increase or reduce the electrical power supplied by the power station. The flow is increased to reduce the electrical power and reduced to increase the electrical power. The process does not necessitate operation of the control rods during fluctuations of the electrical power demand of small amplitude and duration and it allows operation of the control rods to be reduced during larger modulations of the electrical power. This minimises the problems associated with regulating the thermal power produced by the fission reaction including the necessity to oversize the reactor to take account of increases in thermal power, the need to operate frequently on the control rods and the fact that thermal cycles in the fuel produce thermal stresses in the structures.