Reactor Protective System

Reactor Protective System

A Reactor Protective System (RPS) is a set of nuclear safety components in a nuclear power plant designed to safely shutdown the reactor and prevent the release of radioactive materials. The System can "trip" automatically (initiating a Scram), or it can be tripped by the operators. Trips occurs when the parameters meet or exceed the limit setpoint. A trip of the RPS results in full insertion (by gravity in pressurized water reactors or high-speed injection in boiling water reactors) of all control rods and shutdown of the reactor.

Pressurized water reactors

Some of the measured parameters for US Pressurized Water plants would include:

*"High Power", auctioneered between high nuclear power and high differental temperature (delta T) between the inlet and outlet of the reactor vessel (a measure of the thermal power for a given RCS flowrate).
*"High Startup Rate" (active below 10-4 percent power) at low power levels.
*"High Pressurizer Pressure"
*"Low Reactor Coolant Flow"
*"Thermal Margin/Low Pressure" (reactor power versus RCS pressure)
*"High Containment Pressure"
*"Low Steam Generator Level"
*"Low Steam Generator Pressure"
*"Loss of Load" (Main Turbine Trip)

Each parameter is measured by four separate independent channels such that actuation of any two channels would result in an automatic SCRAM or reactor shutdown. Failure of any one channel would not cause or prevent an automatic shutdown. The system also allows manual actuation by the operator.

Boiling water reactors

Boiling water reactors have two channels to their RPS. Both channels must be grounded to automatically activate a scram, and each criteria for shutdown is measured twice for each channel - each criteria need fail only once per channel to ground the channel. The manual scram buttons are also part of the RPS. (The reactor can also be shut down by other means than the RPS.)

See also

*Nuclear power


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Nuclear reactor technology — This article is a subarticle of Nuclear power .A nuclear reactor is a device in which nuclear chain reactions are initiated, controlled, and sustained at a steady rate, as opposed to a nuclear bomb, in which the chain reaction occurs in a… …   Wikipedia

  • Nuclear reactor — Core of CROCUS, a small nuclear reactor used for research at the EPFL in Switzerland This article is a subarticle of Nuclear power. A nuclear reactor is a device to initiate and control a sustained nuclear chain reaction. Most commonly they are… …   Wikipedia

  • Behavior of nuclear fuel during a reactor accident — This page is devoted to a discussion of how uranium dioxide nuclear fuel behaves during both normal nuclear reactor operation and under reactor accident conditions such as overheating. Work in this area is often very expensive to conduct, and so… …   Wikipedia

  • nuclear reactor — Physics. reactor (def. 4). Also called nuclear pile. [1940 45] * * * Device that can initiate and control a self sustaining series of nuclear fission reactions. Neutrons released in one fission reaction may strike other heavy nuclei, causing them …   Universalium

  • Nuclear fuel response to reactor accidents — This page is devoted to a discussion of how uranium dioxide nuclear fuel behaves during both normal nuclear reactor operation and under reactor accident conditions such as overheating. Work in this area is often very expensive to conduct, and so… …   Wikipedia

  • Safety instrumented system — A Safety Instrumented System (SIS) is a form of process control usually implemented in industrial processes, such as those of a factory or an oil refinery. The SIS performs specified functions to achieve or maintain a safe state of the process… …   Wikipedia

  • Nuclear safety in the United States — Nuclear safety in the U.S. is governed by federal regulations and continues to be studied by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The safety of nuclear plants and materials controlled by the U.S. government for research and weapons production …   Wikipedia

  • RPS — is a three letter abbreviation that may refer to:* Racial Preservation Society, a defunct British pressure group * Reactor Protective System, a set of safety components in a nuclear power plant * Redundant Power System, a series of Cisco UPS… …   Wikipedia

  • Chernobyl disaster — This article is about the 1986 nuclear plant accident in Ukraine. For other uses, see Chernobyl (disambiguation). Chernobyl disaster …   Wikipedia

  • Nuclear power debate — For nuclear energy policies by nation, see Nuclear energy policy. For public protests about nuclear power, see Anti nuclear movement. Three of the reactors at Fukushima I overheated, causing meltdowns that eventually led to hydrogen explosions,… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”