OPTIMIZATION OF IN-CORE FUEL MANAGEMENT, CYCLE PERIOD AND POWER SCHEDULING OF NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS BY LARGE SCALE NONLINEAR PROGRAMMING.

Minimization of the power cost of the utility system, which consists of nuclear power plant(s) and one backup fossil power plant is discussed. The decision variables are batch size of the nonequilibrium refueling pattern, cycle power, derating and cycle length. The optimization is subject to several constraints in reactor operation and power system scheduling. The problem characterized by the large scale nonlinear programming, is decomposed in two stages: Suboptimization of nuclear unit by Linear Programming and overall coordinative optimization for system power cost with the use of gradient projection method. A typical example on BWR is studied. In most cases of normal operation, the economical solution is obtained by filling up the margins involved in design parameters and operational constraints. Data in tabular and graphical form are appended.