Publications Details
Characteristics and control response of the TOPAZ II Reactor System Real-time Dynamic Simulator
A dynamic simulator of the TOPAZ II reactor system has been developed for the Nuclear Electric Propulsion Space Test Program. The simulator combines first-principle modeling and empirical correlations in its algorithm to attain the modeling accuracy and computational through-put that are required for real-time execution. The overall execution time of the simulator for each time step is 15 ms when no data is written to the disk, and 18 ms when nine double precision data points are written to the disk once in every time step. The simulation program has been tested and it is able to handle a step decrease of $8 worth of reactivity. It also provides simulations of fuel, emitter, collector, stainless steel, and ZrH moderator failures. Presented in this paper are the models used in the calculations, a sample simulation session, and a discussion of the performance and limitations of the simulator. The simulator has been found to provide realistic real-time dynamic response of the TOPAZ II reactor system under both normal and casualty conditions.