High Fidelity Nuclear Reactor Core Simulation for Efficient Microreactor Design

Industry core simulators that are the cornerstone of reactor analysis for the operating fleet of nuclear plants are used in numerous application areas, including core and fuel design, safety licensing, core monitoring, and training. For the new generation of low-power, small-footprint nuclear reactors called microreactors, core simulators have yet to be developed to perform these tasks accurately and efficiently. Many of the existing tools used across the nuclear industry to design microreactors need more maturity and production readiness and rely on computationally expensive methods, which hinder the development of these concepts and increase the deployment time. The successful development and deployment of microreactors can positively impact the economy while mitigating climate change and help solve humanityĺs most pressing problems. Microreactor applications vary widely, including microgrid electrification, water treatment, marine propulsion, mining, space travel, and industrial process heat. To achieve this, scientists and engineers need access to a practical, useable, accurate simulation tool for predicting the safety and operation of proposed designs. This project seeks to address a significant barrier to deploying microreactors by developing a microreactor core simulator that can be used for reactor design and safety analysis for many of the concepts currently under development by the nuclear industry. The project will leverage tools developed for simulating existing light water reactors and integrating them with new physics models to capture the unique features of microreactors. In phase 1, several of the critical components of the reactor simulator will be demonstrated to simulate regular operation typical of microreactor designs, including core lifetime depletion and operational power maneuvers. Phase 2 will extend these capabilities to facilitate safety analysis of these microreactor concepts and compare the simulation results against several test facilities that are currently demonstrating the behavior of these reactors. This core simulator capability would then be applied throughout the nuclear industry to improve the safe and efficient operation of this new carbon-free source of electricity from nuclear power.