Power stabilization of nuclear research reactor via fuzzy controllers

Power stabilization is a critical issue in nuclear reactors. A conventional PD controller is currently used in Egypt's second testing research reactor (ETRR-2). This controller is designed neglecting the nonlinear nature of the plant. In this paper, two fuzzy controllers are used instead of the conventional PD. The first fuzzy controller has a static rule set, while the second one has an adaptive rule set. Simulation results show that the adaptive fuzzy controller gives the best integral square error (ISE) index, while the static fuzzy controller still provides a better ISE than the conventional PD controller.