Operating power plants requires a detailed understanding on how different systems of the plant interact with each other, how water and steam are used to transfer energy and the limitation of control loops. This simulator allows you to try to start up the Chernobyl RBMK reactor, sync it to the grid and experience the complexity of power plant operation.
This project is currently in development. You can download the project on Github. A more convenient way of downloading and running will be provided as the development progresses further.
This simulator focuses on operating the thermal systems of the power plant and is simplified in a way that it can be handled by one person.
It features:
- Two steam drum separators (instead of 4)
- Simplified reactor with 5 automatic, 28 manual and 4 short control rods (instead of 170).
- One turbogenerator with steam reheater
- Mnemonic displays inspired by the actual control room
- Convenient line plots to monitor measurement time series
- Accident sequence (prompt neutron excursion) possible.
- Nasty reactor dynamics
Motivation
In 1998 there was a simulation called “Chernobyl: The Legacy Continues” which is actually a simplified, working power plant simulation. I used to work in coal fired power plants before and after my engineering graduation and had the chance to actually work on real control systems engineering, that simulator got my attention and I even wrote a startup manual for it. After switching to food machinery manufacturing I was able to finally deep dive into coding and got the skills to work on a successor to this masterpiece.
As I’m benefiting much of open source software here and many people provided valuable information free of charge, I decided to release this as free and open source software.
Usage
For a brief introduction, head to simulator usage. I strongly recommend you to read this as it contains the basics of operation.
For a in-detail manual on how to startup the plant, head to Startup Manual.
More manuals:
Technical Background
The simulator is using a combination of a physical network simulation and state space modeling to model the entire plant. To allow simulations in a broad range, things are simplified in a way that lacks numerical precision but allows a good dynamic behavior.
There is no real neutron simulation, the reactor is simplified by making nonlinear state space models that have an expected behavior. Basically it’s about balancing reactivity.