A platform that simulates nuclear reactor conditions
In order to meet growing energy demands, many countries are considering, or have already adopted, nuclear energy power plants. However, safety concerns remain regarding the construction of new plants and the maintenance of existing ones. It is paramount importance to achieve a sustainable and secure energy supply, not only for society but also for Europe's economy and industry. Aiming to address this issue, the EU-funded collaborative project 'Nuclear reactor integrated simulation project' (Nurisp) developed a European reference simulation platform for applications relevant to nuclear reactors. The consortium's work was based on the Nuresim software platform, which was developed by the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6)-funded Nuresim study. Among the project objectives was the generation of a platform that accurately represents relevant physical phenomena through an incorporation of the latest advances in reactor and core physics, two-phase thermal-hydraulics and fuel modelling. This platform also stands to offer the ability to perform multi-scale and multi-physics computations, especially for coupling core physics and thermal-hydraulics models for reactor safety. The 'best estimate' tools for reactor safety and next generation reactor design were developed, implemented and tested against several types of nuclear reactors (PWR, BWR and VVER). Additionally, Monte-Carlo techniques were developed for long-time kinetics and dynamic calculations. The thermal-hydraulic tools will beused to investigate safety issues, including pressurised thermal shock, critical heat flux and accidents involving loss of coolant. The advanced thermal-hydraulic numerical simulation tools for reactor safety are expected to contribute to a European pole of excellence in reactor safety computations. Another aim of the project was to develop new experimentally predictive tools that could be applied in the design of new technologies and facilities based on novel processes. This would avoid the costly and lengthy procedures of building representative mock-up experiments. Overall, the extended Nuresim platform is expected to become a reference tool for universities, research labs, technical safety organisations and the nuclear industry.
