Research and Design of the Primary Coolant Flow Measurement Method for HPR1000

The primary coolant flow rate is an important safety level protection parameter for the reactor coolant system, used for low primary coolant flow rate shutdown protection logic or generating safety injection signals to protect reactor safety. It is a key parameter that affects the safety and economy of nuclear power plants. This article compares and studies the primary coolant flow measurement methods of traditional second-generation nuclear power plants, improved second-generation nuclear power plants, and HPR1000 nuclear power plants. By optimizing the flow measurement method, functional design of monitoring systems, and signal processing algorithms, a comprehensive primary flow measurement method has been designed in HPR1000 nuclear power plant. This measurement method achieves the addition of protection functions for reactor coolant pump automatic shutdown, thermal power calculation, and automatic shutdown due to low coolant flow rate, such as “safety injection signal matching low coolant pump differential pressure signal”, in response to a reactor break loss of coolant accident.