Assessment of core protection and monitoring systems for an advanced reactor SMART

Analogue and digital core protection/monitoring systems were assessed for the implementation in an advanced reactor. The core thermal margins to nuclear fuel design limits (departure from nucleate boiling and fuel centerline melting) were estimated using the design data for a commercial pressurized water reactor and an advanced reactor. The digital protection system resulted in a greater power margin to the fuel centerline melting by at least 30% of rated power for both commercial and advanced reactors. The DNB margin with the digital system is also higher than that for the analogue system by 8 and 12.1% of rated power for commercial and advanced reactors, respectively. The margin gain with the digital system is largely due to the online calculations of DNB ratio and peak local power density from the live sensor signals. The digital core protection and monitoring systems are, therefore, believed to be more appropriate for the advanced reactor. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.