NERI PROJECT 99-119."A NEW PARADIGM FOR AUTOMATIC DEVELOPMENT OF HIGHLY RELIABLE CONTROL ARCHITECTURES FOR NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS."PHASE-1 PROGRESS REPORT

Nuclear power plants are no longer immune to cycling operation. While certain nuclear power plants in Europe have been performing load following operation, this type of operation has largely been avoided in the United States. Due to increasing contribution of nuclear generation in the mix, European operators were forced to make modifications to increase the maneuverability of their nuclear generation assets. However, in the United States, nuclear generation is still a relatively smaller contributor (19%), but with rapid increase in renewable generation, some nuclear plans are being asked to operate at reduced power and cycle to lower power levels. These shutdowns are typically of a short-term duration on a weekend or in periods of high renewable megawatt generation. With most future renewable integration studies advocating for increased flexibility on the grid, nuclear generation maneuverability will allow system operators with another resource to mitigate and reduce system costs. This paper presents the results of a detailed study of a 1,150 MW boiling water reactor (BWR) nuclear plant when cycled to low loads. The authors present the relative damage of cycling to various reduced power levels 80% to 15% power levels compared to a cold startup and shutdown of a nuclear plant. An assessment was made of the systems that had fatigue damage and costs. We also discuss some of the limitations of cycling that a nuclear plant has and present and discuss recommendations to reduce damage and costs.

Download Full-text

INCEFA-PLUS (Increasing Safety in Nuclear Power Plants by Covering Gaps in Environmental Fatigue Assessment)

Volume 1A: Codes and Standards ◽

10.1115/pvp2017-65256 ◽

2017 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Kevin Mottershead ◽

Matthias Bruchhausen ◽

Thomas Métais ◽

Sergio Cicero ◽

David Tice

Keyword(s):

Test Data ◽

Nuclear Power ◽

Power Plants ◽

Nuclear Power Plants ◽

Phase 1 ◽

Hold Time ◽

Austenitic Stainless Steels ◽

Common Interest ◽

Mean Stress ◽

Surface Finishes

INCEFA-PLUS is a five year project supported by the European Commission HORIZON2020 program. The project commenced in mid-2015. 16 organizations from across Europe have combined forces to deliver new experimental data which will support the development of improved guidelines for assessment of environmental fatigue damage to ensure safe operation of nuclear power plants. Within INCEFA-PLUS, the effects of mean strain, hold time, strain amplitude and surface finish on fatigue endurance of austenitic stainless steels in light water reactor environments are being studied experimentally, these being issues of common interest to all participants. The data obtained are being collected and standardized in an online environmental fatigue database, implemented with the assistance of a CEN workshop led by members of the INCEFA-PLUS project. Later in the project it is planned that INCEFA-PLUS will develop and disseminate methods for including the new data into assessment approaches for environmental fatigue degradation. This paper provides an update to the project introduction presented at PVP2016 (PVP2016-63149). In particular the paper presents the finalized matrix of test conditions for Phase 1 testing planned for 2017, including the agreed positions on testing for the effects of mean stress/strain and hold time. The materials being tested are summarized, together with available material characterization data. The specimen surface finishes used in the phase 1 testing are described, including measures taken to ensure uniformity of surface conditions throughout the consortium and characterization results for the two chosen surface finishes for each specimen geometry and material. The emerging plans for Phase 2 testing is also described, with a focus on steps being taken to enable more plant-relevant testing for the effects of mean stress and exploration of sensitivities to hold times within plant transients. The latest view on how the project results will be used to advance development of improved assessment guidelines is also discussed. An update is provided on the discussions at the CEN workshop on Standards-Compliant Formats for Fatigue Test Data (FATEDA) including progress towards agreeing test data formats and trials of XML data transfers from laboratory to database. Finally, a summary is provided of project dissemination activities.

Download Full-text