The development of on-line thermal performance monitors in Nuclear Electric Company´s stations

The authors examine the benefits of using online monitoring techniques in assisting power station staff with the task of optimising the efficient use of reactor fuel. The role of thermal performance monitoring for detecting changes in plant conditions is examined and the way in which the data can be used by engineers to assist with the preparation of operating and maintenance programmes also discussed. To reduce the requirement for regular calibrations, an automatic software signal verification program is developed for use in online monitoring schemes. It forms part of the total unit performance calculation package and uses a whole plant model to verify plant signals