Particle Swarm Optimization in Reactor Core Design

Abstract

This work presents particle swarm optimization (PSO) as an alternative method for solving an optimization problem that arises during nuclear reactor core design. The method is introduced and applied to a simplified core optimization problem found in literature. When compared with other evolutionary computation–based methods, PSO performs better. Moreover, PSO presents easier modeling and demands less computational effort in the optimization process. The obtained results are shown and discussed.