Reactor Simulator Exercises

Submitted by: Group11

I. Exercise 1

The main objective of exercise 1 is to present the almost linear relationship of criticality and rod
positions. As seen in Fig. 1, the curve diverges away from being completely linear due to other
parameters affecting the criticality of the reactor.

1.2
f(x) = − 0.41246919821584 ln(x) + 2.18005430186729

f(x) = − 0.00507817149062666 x + 0.917539459188554

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
0 50 100 150 200 250

Fig. 1

II. Exercise 2

For this exercise, through the simulator, the exact effect of control rods on reactivity can be determined
experimentally. By plotting the resulting reactivity versus the rod position, a graph similar to Fig. 2 is
obtained.   The graph depicts integral control rod worth over the full range of withdrawal. A curve of
reactivity vs. rod position was drawn to get the differential rod worth Curve as seen in Fig 3. The
preceding value of reactivity was added with successive reactivity and a curve reactivity vs. rod position
was plotted to get the integral rod worth curve for each of the period measured. The differential rod
reactivity and the integral rod reactivity curves of transient rod and shim rod using In-hour equation and
period reactivity.
Fig.2

Fig. 3
III. Exercise 3

For the last exercise, the linear relationship between water temperature and time was explored as seen
in Fig. 4. Also, the exercise highlights the most important physical aspect of any reactor design which is
safety organically derived from the internal physical dynamics of the reactor independent from any
mechanical intervention.

90

80

70

60

50
Temp C

40

30

20

10

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
Time (min)

Fig. 4