Operation optimization of auxiliary electric boiler system in HTR-PM nuclear power plant

Electric boilers (EBs) are the backup steam source for the auxiliary steam system of high-temperature gas-cooled reactor nuclear power plants. When the plant is in normal operations, the EB is always in hot standby status. However, the current hot standby operation strategy has problems of slow response, high power consumption, and long operation time. To solve these problems, this study focuses on the optimization of hot standby operations for the EB system. First, mathematical models of an electrode immersion EB and its accompanying deaerator were established. Then, a control simulation platform of the EB system was developed in MATLAB/Simulink implementing the established mathematical models and corresponding control systems. Finally, two optimization strategies for the EB hot standby operation were proposed, followed by dynamic simulations of the EB system transient from hot standby to normal operations. The results indicate that the proposed optimization strategies can significantly speed up the transient response of the EB system from hot standby to normal operations and reduce the power consumption in hot standby operations, improving the dynamic performance and economy of the system. (c) 2022 Korean Nuclear Society, Published by Elsevier Korea LLC. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).