Designing a component-based architecture for the modeling and simulation of nuclear fuels and reactors

Concerns over the environment and energy security have recently prompted renewed interest in the U. S. in nuclear energy. Recognizing this, the U. S. Dept. of Energy has launched an initiative to revamp and modernize the role that modeling and simulation plays in the development and operation of nuclear facilities. This Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) program represents a major investment in the development of new software, with one or more large multi-scale multi-physics capabilities in each of four technical areas associated with the nuclear fuel cycle, as well as additional supporting developments. In conjunction with this, we are designing a software architecture, computational environment, and component framework to integrate the NEAMS technical capabilities and make them more accessible to users. In this report of work very much in progress, we lay out the "problem" we are addressing, describe the model-driven system design approach we are using, and compare them with several large-scale technical software initiatives from the past. We discuss how component technology may be uniquely positioned to address the software integration challenges of the NEAMS program, outline the capabilities planned for the NEAMS computational environment and framework, and describe some initial prototyping activities.