arXiv:2308.13348 · Journal of Physics Conference Series

Quantum and quantum-inspired optimization for an in-core fuel management problem

Sergey R. Usmanov, G V Salakhov, A. A. Bozhedarov, Evgeniy O. Kiktenko, Aleksey K. Fedorov

Published Feb 1, 2024• 2 citations

Abstract

Abstract Operation management of nuclear power plants consists of several computationally hard problems. Searching for an in-core fuel loading pattern is among them. The main challenge of this combinatorial optimization problem is the exponential growth of the search space with a number of loading elements. Here we study a reloading problem in a Quadratic Unconstrained Binary Optimization (QUBO) form. Such a form allows us to apply various techniques, including quantum annealing, classical simulated annealing, and quantum-inspired algorithm in order to find fuel reloading patterns for several realistic configurations of nuclear reactors. We present the results of benchmarking the in-core fuel management problem in the QUBO form using the aforementioned computational techniques. This work demonstrates potential applications of quantum computers and quantum-inspired algorithms in the energy industry.

DOI: 10.1088/1742-6596/2701/1/012031

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