Special features of the safety and control systems of the Dhruva reactor

Abstract

The prime requirement of reactor safety combined with the need for high availability of nuclear plants have, in recent years, led to considerable research and development efforts at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in the field of reactor safety and control engineering. The areas of special interest have been the development of a fast acting emergency shutdown system, on-line fault detection facility for the reactor protection circuits, enhanced instrumentation capability for measurement of critical plant parameters and computerised systems for plant protection, control, performance evaluation, disturbance analysis, and data acquisition and display with particular attention to the problem of manmachine interface. Some of these recent concepts have been incorporated in safety and control systems of theDhruva reactor which is at present undergoing commissioning trials at Trombay. The special features of these systems are highlighted in the paper. The safety strategy adopted for the reactor and the consequent development of special safety systems are described in detail. The choice of the reactor control scheme and the methodology followed in the design of the automatic power control system are indicated. Campbell instrumentation for measurement of neutron flux or in other words reactor power, extensive use of microprocessors in safety related instrumentation and an improved man-machine interface through suitable design of control room have helped in achieving a high degree of reactor safety. The salient features of these systems are also included.