Development Of Periodic Tests Platform For Thorium-based Molten-salt Reactor Protection System

Reactor Protection System is one of the most significant component in the reactor instrument control system for its vital role on the safety of the nuclear reactor operation. With the development of computer technology, it has become the trend in the reactor control system that digital protection system will take the place of traditional analog system. A digital protect system platform based on field FPGA is proposed in the Thorium-based Molten-Salt Reactor( TMSR). Moreover, to validate the status of the protection system periodic test is necessary during the running of the reactor. Therefore, the development and building of a suitable periodic test platform is required for the security of the reactor protector system and even the normal operation of the whole reactor.The design principles, experimental procedures and matters need attention for periodic test platform development have been determined based on the nuclear safety regulations. The design scheme and test method for TMSR reactor protection system are given with the domestic research status of periodic test platform. The test content includes checking sensor and analog channel of T1 test, protection logic functions of T2 test, optimization module output atresia, shutdown circuit breaker and response time of T3 test. We developed the hardware signal conditioning board and testing board for periodic test platform, which are configurable and modular, and finished the design and implementation of human-machine interface, test algorithm and software system. At last, we carried out the periodic test platform testing with the principle prototype for TMSR reactor protection system. Hardware of periodic test platform contain of PXI industrial PC, NI6363 data acquisition card, signal conditioning card, and self-checking card, which’s principle is modular and open design. Software of periodic test platform contain of Lab VIEW, Access database, VISA technology and multithreading technology. The entire software development follows the hierarchical, modular design thought. Then verification and testing about experiment platform had carried out, including the response time of T3 test and T2 test, verification test in shutdown circuit breaker on the principle prototype of TMSR reactor protection system, and so on. Test results show that the periodic test platform can complete the follow function: firstly to simulate sensor parameters, secondly to inject group test data to protection system according to the predefined truth table, thirdly to do real-time acquisition and judgment on protection operation signals and internal network communication signals in protection system by the periodic test platform. Further more, periodic test platform can also be long-term stable job in performance. Our development periodic test platform can be not only able to complete the periodic tests, but also can be used to lab test of TMSR reactor protection system research and development phase.