Physics-Informed Unit Commitment Framework for Nuclear Reactors
Power Transformation Lab (mrdavidson AT ucsd.edu)
Nuclear reactors are often modeled as inflexible baseload generators with fixed downtimes and restrictive ramping limits. In practice, however, operational flexibility for a reactor is coupled with its fuel-cycle. A critical physics constraint arises from xenon poisoning, in which the buildup of the neutron absorbing xenon following a power ramp-down suppresses core reactivity, thereby limiting power maneuvers and reactor restarts. Existing power system models represent these effects using...