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While the above steps are being carried out, the condenser cooling water
system and the turbine generator is run for balance check, overspeed
test, and dryout of the generator.
At this time, the feed water pumps and heaters are brought into partial
operation.
After this, the switches are tried out and a check is made of electrical
circuits and relay settings, of generator phasing and of phase rotation.
By this time, all the instruments, automatic control and lighting and
communication system should be installed and seen that they are
working reasonably well.
For unloading and stopping of the engine, the following steps are required:
Reduce the engine speed until practically no power is delivered by the
alternator.
Open the switch connecting the alternator to bus.
Idle the engine at no load for a short time before stopping.
Stop the engine according to manufacturers instructions.
After engine has shut down, it is very urgent to continue circulating the
cooling water and lubricating oil until it has been cooled to a value set by the
engine manufacturer.
After making the reactor critical, the next step is to take various
measurements such as flux distribution throughout the core, the effects
of control rods and the effect of temperature, by heating the coolant can
be noted.
Running up to power may now be effected by careful withdrawal of
control rods.
A close watch is kept on the neutron flux measurements, operation of
coolant circulators and steam plant.
Control rods movement are to be carried out to compensate for any slight
change in reactivity that may occur and for varying the load in
accordance with the demand.
The movement is generally done automatically.
To shut down the plant, the power is reduced slowly by gradually
inserting the control rods.
In case of emergency, it is done quickly by dropping in the safety valves.
Radioactive decay of the fission products continues at a high level for
several hours and may generate 5 to 10% of the full rated amount of
heat.
Some coolant circulation must therefore be maintained.
To start up after shut down, the steam plant and coolant are prepared by
heating the latter.
After this the control rods are gradually removed and the neutron flux
measurements and the reactor period are closely observed.
After the shut down, the xenon poisoning builds up a considerable
negative reactivity which reaches a maximum after 20 or 30 hours.
Therefore, the reactor should be started within an hour or two before
poison has the time to build up or after a few days when the poison has
died down.
For this reason, the nuclear reactor should not be run intermittently.