A novel channel selection method for CANDU refuelling based on the BPANN and GA techniques

A novel channel selection method for CANDU refuelling based on the back-propagation artificial neural network (BPANN) and genetic algorithm (GA) techniques is developed. In this method, GA is used as an “optimization tool” and BPANN as a refuelling “simulator” used to predict the core parameters. Based on this method an automatic refuelling channel selection program for CANDU reactors has been developed and tested by the refuelling simulation of the Qinshan Phase III CANDU reactor for 400 effective full power days. The numerical results show that the average properties of the time-dependent core are very close to the reference one and the refuelling channel selection method possesses superior computational efficiency.