Read LONG STORY SHORT if you don't want to read too much.

 

 

 

 

 

Manual for the Operation of the NTPR Reactor

 

COMMERCIAL ATOMIC POWER AGENCY, PARIS, 2003

 

 

 

 

 

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION AND CONCEPT

1. Control panel

   1.1. Reactor Core

   1.2. First loop

   1.3. Second loop

   1.4. Miscellaneous Control

   1.5. Indicators and dials

2. Vocabulary

PART I. OPERATION

1. Normal start-up

 

2. Normal operation

    2.1. Optimal reactor state

    2.2. Condensator

 

3. Shut-down

 

PART II. REFUELLING

1. Preparation

 

2. Refuel

    2.1. Rod removal

    2.2. Rod insertion

    2.3. Concept

 

PART III. EMERGENCIES

1. Scram system

2. Control rods inoperative

3. Overheat

4. Reactor on fire

5. Nuclear Meltdown

 

LONG STORY SHORT

 

INFORMATION OUTSIDE THE MANUAL

 

 

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION

 

1. Control Panel

 

1.1. Reactor core

 

The reactor core control panel in the upper corner controls the reaction in the core.

Starter Button:

The Starter Button activates the starter. The starter creates a high amount of slow neutrons and puts them into the reactor core. The reactor itself can not create any neutrons, but multiply them.

 

Control Rods:

The control rods control the amount of neutrons in the reactor core, therefore controlling the power. In the upper state / 0, the control rods are idle. In other words, they are absorbing none of the neutrons present in the reactor core. When the control rods are fully inserted / 4, the neutrons get absorbed and the reaction should stop soon. It's worth to mention that at full insertion in reality the control rods are not inserted fully, but leave a small margin at the bottom. This slows down shut-down but is not critical.

 

Control rod dial:

This dial indicates the insertion of the control rods. 0 means they are idle. 4 means they are fully inserted.

 

 

1.2. First loop

 

The first loop is a closed system of pipes where no water escapes it. The pumps pump water from two small containers into the reactor, therefore taking a part of the reactor's heat. Then, the water is pushed by the pressure created by the reactor into the heat exchanger, giving the heat to the boiler. After, the water is pumped back into the container. The Output Valves control the output of the water (usually steam) out of the reactor.

 

 

1.3. Second loop

 

A part of the second loop is the boiler. When the steam from the first loop gives heat, the water begins to boil and creates pressure. This pressure is used to rotate a turbine that rotates a generator creating a lot of electricity, the purpose of all this. Then the steam goes into the condenser to cool down and flows into the big water container. The pumps get the water back into the boiler, repeating the cycle.

The optimal indicator says, that the water in the container is >70°C. This means that the water lost minimal heat, therefore used it effectively.

The overheat indicator says, that the water is hotter than 90°C or about to boil or is already steam. If it lights up, set the condensators power to 2 and try to get the water coming from the boilers cooler.

 

Boilers:

The boiling indicator means, that the boiler is hotter than 130°C, the minimal temperature to get the water to boil efficiently.

The overheat indicator says, that the boiler is hotter than 180°C. This makes the water coming out unnecessarily hot and heats up the condenser.

 

 

1.4. Miscellaneous Control

 

These controls are not less important than the others.

The Pre-Heater heats up the long second loop pipe of the first boiler. Usually, it's enough to just hold the button if the light next to it lights up, indicating that there's liquid water in the pipe.

 

The SCRAM button should ONLY be used in real emergencies. It starts all systems that could cool down the reactor in any way and activates the alarm in the whole building.

 

 

1.5. Indicators and dials

 

This part displays all information needed to operate the reactor. It's mostly about the reactor core.

NP/Neutrons Present means, that there are neutrons in the reactor, therefore indicates if the reactor is on. It doesn't work if the control rods are fully inserted so leave them in for some time if you want to shut down.

The Radioactivity dial shows, how many neutrons are in the core. It is not really reliable so don't use it as an exact indicator. The pressure gauge drops a bit when inserting the rods. Just add 10 PSI when looking at it.

 

 

2. Vocabulary

 

When the reactor is idle, e.g. the reactor creates less neutrons than get absorbed, you say that the reactor is "subcritical". When the reactor creates the same amount of neutrons as disappear, or more, it is "critical". No, "the reactor is critical" does not mean that it is about to explode like in movies, a common mistake. "Overcritical" means that the reactor is hotter/has more power than normal or about to meltdown.

 

 

 

 

 

PART I. OPERATION

 

1. Normal start-up

 

1.1. Preparation

 

For starting, push the Starter button, activate all loop 1 pumps and open the valves. When the Boiling indicator lights up, start the loop 2 pumps, and when the optimal indicator lights up, set the condensator's power to 1.

 

 

 

2. Operation

 

2.1. Optimal reactor state

 

The reactor temperature should be kept around 500°C. Control rods inserted 1.5 usually keep the temperature constant. If one of the Overheat indicators light up, shut down some of the loop 1 pumps. One pump per loop is usually enough. Always try to balance between the boiling/optimal and the overheat indicator.

 

 

2.2. Condensator

 

The water in the big container should be kept around 70-80°C for minimum heat waste. To cool it down, you use the condensator. You can set it's power in the Loop 2 section. Mode 0 shuts it down. Mode 1 is normal operation. Mode 2 is max. power and is used to cool the container down if it boils or in an emergency.

 

 

3. Shut-down

 

First, you have to insert the control rods fully and wait for 30 seconds. Then move the control rods to idle. When the temperature jumps to 200°C, activate all Loop 1 pumps to get the temperature down. As soon as the boiling indicator goes off, shut down the pumps in Loop 2 number 1, 3 and let the other two run for around 10 seconds. Then disactivate the Loop 1 pumps. Try to leave the optimal indicator on. At the end, the reactor should be colder than 160°C and the pressure should be less than 5 PSI.

 

 

 

 

 

PART II. REFUELING

 

1. Preparation

 

Before refueling, there should be no people in the reactor room. The whole room should be checked.

The reactor should be shut off and the control rods in idle position. The pressure should be less than 5 PSI and temperature <160°C (dials at 0).

If there are no fuel rods left, you can request new ones by pushing N.

 

2. Refuel

 

2.1. Rod removal

 

First, open the two hatches of the reactor manually (with the blue NSCN). Now you use the "crane" part of the control panel. Push button A and drive to the first rod. Take it and move to the second fuel pool. Push the down arrow 3 times and push button C. Repeat this with the other rods. Don't forget to push A before taking every rod. Otherwise you can't get rid of it. Also, the piston should be up before pushing A. After, fill up the pool with water manually.

 

2.2. Rod insertion

 

Now move to the first fuel pool, push A and take the first rod. Then move to the reactor, insert and push button !R!. Repeat this with the other rods. And again, don't forget to push A!

Now, move the crane to the original position and close all reactor hatches (with red PSCN).

 

2.3. Concept

 

When you connect something to a piston normally, there is no way to unstick it. To solve this problem, in front of the piston there is a small crmc line. So when you want to unstick a rod, you can delete the crmc. To do that automatically, I am doing this with CRAY, it deletes the line and unsticks the rod. The R button activates the deleters in the reactor, therefore unsticking the rod in the reactor. The C does the same thing but in the pools. So every time you want to take a rod, drive the piston all the way up and push A. The button A restores the crmc line so it can be used for the next rod.

 

 

 

 

 

PART III. EMERGENCIES

1. Scram system

 

The scram system is there to keep you and the reactor safe. The system is enough to stop the reactor from melting down in any scenario except for the really unlikely worst case when every part doesn't work, so you don't need to worry about a meltdown.

 

 

In any case of an emergency listed down here, inform your supervisor about the state immediatly.

 

2. Control rods inoperative

 

In this case there should be no meltdown. The safety system can stop the reactor even without the control rods using a neutron poision, a liquid neutron absorber that flows into the reactor when the plug of the container melts, therefore being absolutely independent of electricity and the staff. The plug could melt if the reactor is over 1064°C. When the reactor cools down under 160°C, call the engineers to check the control rod's hydraulics and pump out the neutron poision to make the reactor operative again.

 

 

3. Overheat

 

In any case of the reactor overheating, the safety system gets triggered and gets the reactor in a neutral state. Please do not disactivate the SCRAM system before the reactor goes into a non-overcritical state.

 

 

4. Reactor on fire

 

The core of the reactor is immune to fire so the fuel should stay inside. The only important part that could burn are the pipes going out of the reactor because it causes a steam leak. Shut down and wait for the reactor to get fixed.

 

 

5. Nuclear Meltdown

 

In case of a nuclear meltdown, ensure that the government gets informed about the incident and leave the building immediatly. Buses should take you to a safe place and your health will be checked.

 

 

 

 

 

LONG STORY SHORT

To start, push the starter button once and activate all pumps and output valves in Loop 1. Try to balance the core temperature around 500°C. When the boiling indicator lights up, start all Loop 2 pumps. If the indicator below the Pre-Heater sign lights up, just push the button next to it. That indicator tells you that there's water in the long pipe under the reactor. When the optimal indicator lights up, set the condensator's power to 1 (under the Loop 1 title). Try to have all green indicators always on and all red indicators off.

 

 

 

 

 

 

INFORMATION OUTSIDE THE MANUAL

 

This manual is based on a real manual

The reactor can be controlled without seeing the reactor part. In other words, you can close the reactor with something you have near and play without getting any information from it except from the control panel. That is totally enough to use the reactor normally as the save's goal is to simulate a real reactor as much as possible.

 

Any bug report or suggestion would be appreciated.