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Nuclear Engineering
Nuclear engineering and nuclear safety
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The focus of the Institute of Nuclear Engineering in 2017 was placed on activities for the
development of multi-physics nuclear safety methodologies with coupled code systems;
the simulation of the behavior of plant components under off-operation conditions; experimental
two-phase flow thermal-hydraulics; the development of uncertainty methodologies for multi-
physics applications, the simulation of nuclear fuel behavior; the development of advanced molten
salt reactor concepts; and the development of a methodology for the characterization of local
instability in nuclear reactors. Most of this work has been carried out in collaboration with other
German and international research institutes (NBJC (PL), KIT (D), ITU (D), GRS (D)) and university
departments (UPV (E), KTH(S), Chalmers (S), etc).
Highlights for 2017 were the participation in the large
EU-CORTEX Project awarded this year for the devel-
opment of experimental and analytical methodologies
for nuclear reactor dynamics and the publication of an
article in the prestigious International Journal of Multi
phase Flow.
Nuclear Reactor Safety Analysis of Current and Future Reactor Designs
The safe operation of nuclear reactors requires the
evaluation of their safety with sophisticated computational
methods. The most advanced ones are based on multi-
physics approaches by coupling computer codes able
in order to simulate the processes driving the response
of nuclear systems. We make use of the computational
fluid dynamics (CFD) codes ANSYS/CFX and OpenFOAM
Local power distribution in a fuel assembly (PARCS-ANSYS/CFX coupled
calculations (Z. Du, Ph.D. work)
couple in real time with state-of-the-art multi-dimensional
time-dependent neutronic codes (PARCS). Dynamic
feedback can be then calculated and the detailed local
description obtained of the thermal-hydraulics and
neutron flux distribution is used for full system analyses
with codes such as TRACE and ATHLET.
In 2017 the focus was on the development of uncertainty
and sensitivity methodologies for coupled multi-physics
applications for liquid metal fast reactors in the context of
the SESAME Project; the application and expansion of a
novel spectral methodology for local analysis of instabili-
ties in reactor cores in the context of the CORTEX Project
and the development and application of local methods to
describe neutron flux oscillations inside fuel assemblies.
This last project has produced a coupled (ANSYS/CFX-
PARCS) modelling system capable of calculating very
detailed neutronic thermal-hydraulic feedback, which can
reproduce neutron flux oscillations caused by perturba-
tions in the moderator-coolant flow and by the movement
of the fuel assemblies.
Projects
■■
Development and Assessment of Methodologies for the
Analysis of Neutron Oscillations in PWRs Fuel Assem-
blies (BMWi)
■■
Development of a Methodology for Local BWR Stability
Analysis (StMWFK)
■■
SESAME Project on Uncertainty Analysis applied to
Liquid Lead Cooled Reactors (EURATOM)
■■
CORTEX Project on Neutron Flux Oscillations (EUR-
ATOM)