Plant automation: EBR-II experience and future plans with GE PRISM

Work is on-going at EBR-II in the development and demonstration of new control equipment and methods and associated schemes for plant prognosis, diagnosis, and automation. The development work has attracted the interest of other national laboratories, universities, and commercial companies. New initiatives include use of new control strategies, expert systems, advanced diagnostics, and operator displays. The unique opportunity offered by EBR-II is as a test bed where a total integrated approach to automatic reactor control can be directly tested under real power plant conditions. EBR-II is an integral part of Argonne National Laboratory's commitment to the design, development and testing of advanced LMR concepts. This includes a closed-loop fuel cycle, where EBR-II spent fuel is reprocessed and recycled back into the reactor. Presently the fuel reprocessing facility is undergoing major modifications that include total automatic control systems for all of the in-cell processes. EBR-II has made significant progress in the conversion from analog PID controllers to networked computer based control systems. The work is continuing to convert the plant to a supervisory control system. The effort to convert to a computer based control system allows EBR-II to continue operation with a high plant factor and also allows cooperative control system effort to be conducted with universities and with GE PRISM.