An Expert System for Operational Control of PWR Cores

Plant operation is typically based upon heuristic rules1 that have been developed through experience and that are easily understood by operators and engineers on the site. The use of optimal control methods for load-follow and power distribution control in the presence of xenon have been investigated by many researchers. Their work has helped gain substantial insight into the problem; however, it has not been employed in on-site operation. The main purpose of this paper is to present an expert system approach that combines the solutions of optimal control techniques and heuristic rules that might ultimately be used to assist the operators on-site. The details behind this paper are described by Peixoto2.