Demonstration of feedback using the MIT-SNL minimum time control laws for the rapid maneuvering of reactor power

Experiments are reported in which the efficacy of combining proportional-integral-derivative feedback methodologies with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology-Sandia National Laboratories (MIT-SNL) period-generated minimum time control laws was demonstrated for the safe maneuvering of reactor neutronic power on periods as short as 1.0 s under conditions of closed-loop digital control. It is shown that proportional feedback cannot compensate for errors in the measurement of reactivity and that the addition of integral action corrects for this deficiency. The need for controllers of safety-constrained systems to be capable of not only compensating for perturbations but also of diagnosing their cause is discussed