Method For Estimating A Future Value Of The Axial Power Imbalance In A Nuclear Reactor

Method for estimating an axial power imbalance in a nuclear reactor, the method comprising the following steps:

• obtaining a sequence of successive values of a reactor power setpoint,
• for each variable of a plurality of variables of the reactor, determining a sequence of successive values of the variable, the sequence representing future variations of the variable, the variations being estimated by taking into account the sequence of the power setpoint, the plurality of variables of the reactor comprising a concentration of xenon in an upper half of the reactor and a concentration of xenon in a lower half of the reactor, and
• determining a sequence of successive values of the axial power imbalance, by taking into account the sequences of the plurality of variables of the reactor,
• the determination of the sequence of the axial power imbalance using a machine learning module trained beforehand on historic reactor data, and
• the determination of the sequence of the concentration of xenon in the upper half of the reactor and the determination of the sequence of the concentration of xenon in the lower half of the reactor using a model of the evolution of a concentration of iodine and of a concentration of xenon as a function of a neutron flux in the reactor.