Nuclear Power Plant Dynamics and Control
MIT OpenCourseWare offers this short course on reactor dynamics, taught during MIT's Independent Activities Period. It covers subcritical multiplication, critical operation, and feedback effects from Xenon, fuel temperature, and moderator temperature. Students work through the derivation of point kinetics and dynamic period equations, then move into reactor control techniques including signal validation, supervisory algorithms, model-based trajectory tracking, and rule-based control, closing with an overview of light-water reactor startup procedures. Lectures pair with demonstrations that use computer simulation alongside hands-on sessions at the MIT Research Reactor itself. The course materials are freely available online through MIT OpenCourseWare, with no certificate offered. This is a compact, technical curriculum aimed at students who already have a background in nuclear engineering fundamentals, not an introductory survey.