ML20030A450
| ML20030A450 | |
| Person / Time | |
|---|---|
| Site: | Big Rock Point File:Consumers Energy icon.png |
| Issue date: | 01/18/1960 |
| From: | CONSUMERS ENERGY CO. (FORMERLY CONSUMERS POWER CO.) |
| To: | |
| References | |
| NUDOCS 8101090532 | |
| Download: ML20030A450 (5) | |
Text
I SECTION VII
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OPERATION A.
BASIC OPERATING PRINCIPLES The basic operating principles underlying design of the plant are these:
1.
Operation and control of the reactor and all other main process equipment will be centralized in the control room. The control room will be shielded from all proc-ess equipment and from the reactor building so that it is tenable in case of difficulty in any part of the process system, and even in the event of a major reactor-rupture accident.
2.
While most operating and control functions are initiated in the control room, operators may perform some main process functions at remotely operated panels and valve racks. This is done at the direction of the control oper-ator with his prior knowledge.
3.
Some areas of the reactor building and turbine building are habitable during normal operation.
4.
Maintenance is to be performed by direct or semi-remote methods. Provision is made for decontami-nation of equipment before servicing.
5.
Fuel will be changed by semi-remote methods.
6.-
The Plant is so protected by automatic safety devices that no single operator error or reasonably conceivable combination of operator errors-could cause a severe ac cident.
B.
OPERATING STAFF A tentative organizational chart is shown in Figure VII-1.
Operators will have A. E. C. operator licenses.
7 A
Operating personnel will be selected and trained for their duties.
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b CONSUMERS POWER COMPANY BIG ROCK POINT PLANT TENTATIVE ORGANIZATION Plant
.Superintendenta e
Asst. Plant Superintendent
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l Technical L
_._ _.,_ Staff
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I Control &
Shift Maint.
General Nuclear Rad. Prot.
Instrument Chemical Supervisors Supervisor Engineers Engineer Engineer
_ Engineer Engineer Supervisory Jaployees g____.
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Hourly & L'cekly i
Paid Employees I
f' Control Mechanical Instrument Laboratory Operators l Repainnen Technicians Technicians _
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Auxiliary O
Operators C
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Utility.
JJ1cetrical Clerk Janitors 7'.
l Operators l Ilepairmen Q
M.
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VII.3 C.
PRE-OPERATIONAL TESTS
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Pre-operational tests are planned to insure that all significant equipment and the Plant as a whole are in sound working order before regular operation.
'After the initial fueling of the reactor, a number of essentially zero-power and low-power operational tests will be conducted, to secure the necessary information on control-rod effectiveness and to check calculations of other nuclear parameters. Special low-level safety circuits will be utilized during these tests to pro-vide an adequate margin of safety.
A program of tests at intermediate and full power levels will follow the low-power tests. The power level will be increased stepwise, with checks of the functioning of safety devices, of shielding effectiveness, and of performance of critical equipment between steps.
D.
FUELING The following is an outline of the procedure that will be followed to insure against accidental supercriticality in loading the reactor with fuel:
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1.
The reactor vessel will be filled with water, the control rods withdrawn, the liquid poison back-up safety system filled, and all normal and special trip circuits and in-strumentation activated. The top head will be removed from the reactor vessel. All possible sources of water to the reactor will be valved off and locked, so that re-activity changes due to change's in water temperature will not occur. A neutron source of sufficient strength to assure proper functioning of the neutron sensitive start-up instrumentation will be installed.
2.
Loading will proceed in steps. The degree of approach to criticality will be determined by measuring the neutron multiplication between steps. The procedure is designed to assure that the size of the critical loading is predicted with sufficient accuracy for safety. As the critical con-dition is approached, the size of the loading steps will be decreased to assure safety.
3.
After the critical condition with all rods withdrawn is es-tablished, +he rods (with the exception of the number held fully or partially out as " cocked safety") will be inserted and the loading completed, again stepwise, with the rod
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VII-4 l
configuration for criticality determined between steps.
This determination assures that adequate shutdown ca-(
pacity is available in " cocked" rods at all times during the loading.
4.
Checks of the safety circuits will be conducted at ap-propriate times during the loading operation.
E.
START-UP Start-up procedures depend in part on initial conditions at the time of start-up. After an extended shutdown the Plant will be started from cold conditions as follows:
1.
Before rods are withdrawn, a complete and detailed check list is run through, to assure that all equipment is in proper operating condition, that all the safety circuits and interlocks are operable and that valve and control settings are proper.
2.
The water level in the reactor is properly adjusted. With the system at approximately atmospheric pressure, the reactor is brought to critical and power is adjusted to maintain a specified rate of temperature increase. This rate is limited to avoid excessive thermal stresses in the
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reactor vessel. In approaching critical, the rate of re-activity increase is limited by interlocks which permit with-drawal of only one control rod at a time at a controlled rate The reactivity of the assembly, as measured by the reactor period, is continuously monitored and kept below a safe maximum.
3.
With the reactor system valves closed, the wate;r is heated. Vapor release in the reactor vessel maintains saturation pressure in the vessel. Thus the reactor is brought up to pressure as heat is added to the closed system.
4.
The method of putting the turbine in service has not yet been decided, but a possible procedure can be described.
When the reactor pressure reaches a certain value, pos-sibly 200 to 300 psi, steam is admitted to the air ejector and the turbine seals, and the turbine is started by manual operation of the throttle valves. Reactor control rods are repositioned to maintain the power level that provides the correct reactor vessel heating rate and the necessary steam for warming the turbine. When reactor pressure reaches the normal operating level and the turbine reaches
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VII-5~
normal operating speed, the turbine-generator is paral-1eled with the system and the pressure regulator is placed in service. The turbine is loaded through the pressure regulator by adjustinif reactor control rods.
7 During the starting of the turbine, when boiling is estab-lished in the core, the reactor period meters are removed from the scram circuits, and reactor is now protected frorr. excet sive power surges by the flux scram circuits.
A cold start-up requires approximately five hours from a cold condition to full load.
For shutdowns of short duration, the reactor will normally be maintained at rated pressure and temperature. Start-up from hot conditions will be essentially the same as for cold start except for vessel heating.
F.
SHUTDOWN Three different types of shutdown are as follows:
1.
Normal shutdown for a short duration.
2.
Normal shutdown for a long duration.
3.
Eme rgency shutdown.
In a normal unit shutdown for short duration, system pressure is maintained. The turbine is unloaded by running in the control rods.
When the turbine has been removed from the line, the residual re-actor steam is bypassed to the main condenser. The steam will be condensed and returned to the reactor.,
Normal Plant shutdowns of long duration, such as required for re-fueling, are performed in a similar manner. However, the system pressure is reduced by bleeding the reactor down through the turbine or the bypass valve to the main condenser operating with an air ej ector, gland seal condenser, condensate pump and feed pump to achieve controlled cooling within a minimum reasonable time. This continues until the reactor pressure and rate of decay heat are suf-ficiently low to permit the shutdown cooling system to be placed in operation.
The plant is designed to accommodate emergency shutdowns such as complete loss of generator load or turbine trip-out. In the event of an accident in which the condenser becomes unavailable, the turbine trips out on high condenser pressure and the reactor sub-sequently scrams on high reactor pressure. Reactor steam is then condensed in the emergency condenser.
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