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Optimization of nuclear reactor reloading patterns

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Abstract

The loading pattern of fuel bundles in a reactor core determines the characteristics of the reloading cycle. The problem of maximizing fuel utilization during a cycle may be formu-lated as a nonlinear mixed integer programming (NLMIP) problem, but has until now mostly been treated by heuristic optimization methods like simulated annealing. This paper evaluates the performance of state-of-the-art nonlinear programming routines on a simplified model of this problem, and compares results with available heuristic solutions.

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de Klerk, E., Roos, C., Terlaky, T. et al. Optimization of nuclear reactor reloading patterns. Annals of Operations Research 69, 65–84 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018953616965

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018953616965

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