High-fidelity ex-core capabilities in VERA

Tara Pandya; Katherine Royston; Eva Davidson; Tom Evans; Andrew Godfrey; Shane Henderson; Cole Gentry; Shane Stimpson; Benjamin Collins

doi:10.1051/epjconf/202124706024

High-fidelity ex-core capabilities in VERA

Tara Pandya, Katherine Royston, Eva Davidson, Tom Evans, Andrew Godfrey, Shane Henderson, Cole Gentry, Shane Stimpson, Benjamin Collins

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

High-fidelity nuclear reactor calculations have become increasingly important when considering lifetime extensions of the current nuclear fleet. The need for performing large calculations has led to development of advanced, novel methods for faster and more efficient computing system use. Under the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors (CASL), we have enabled the capability to perform high-fidelity ex-core calculations in the Virtual Environment for Reactor Applications (VERA) by coupling with the Shift Monte Carlo (MC) radiation transport package. The codes are coupled in-memory, allowing for the pin-by-pin fission source from the core simulator to be used by Shift. This unique capability allows the user to obtain both in-core and ex-core quantities by running a single simulation. Examples of ex-core calculations that can be performed include multicycle vessel fluence, detector response during reactor start-up and operation, and coupon fluence. One main advantage of the VERA ex-core capability is its flexibility and ease of use; users can select default settings with the standard VERA input for typical calculations or create their own ex-core geometry for specific cases. Also, Shift takes advantage of hybrid deterministic-MC methods to reduce variance and computational time. This paper details the full suite of VERA ex-core capabilities and provides input examples, simulation results, and computing resource use suggestions. These new capabilities have the potential to impact a wide user group in the nuclear community by enhancing and enabling high-fidelity light water reactor (LWR) ex-core calculations.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	International Conference on Physics of Reactors
Subtitle of host publication	Transition to a Scalable Nuclear Future, PHYSOR 2020
Editors	Marat Margulis, Partrick Blaise
Publisher	EDP Sciences - Web of Conferences
Pages	1118-1125
Number of pages	8
ISBN (Electronic)	9781713827245
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/202124706024
State	Published - 2020
Event	2020 International Conference on Physics of Reactors: Transition to a Scalable Nuclear Future, PHYSOR 2020 - Cambridge, United Kingdom Duration: Mar 28 2020 → Apr 2 2020

Publication series

Name	International Conference on Physics of Reactors: Transition to a Scalable Nuclear Future, PHYSOR 2020
Volume	2020-March

Conference

Conference	2020 International Conference on Physics of Reactors: Transition to a Scalable Nuclear Future, PHYSOR 2020
Country/Territory	United Kingdom
City	Cambridge
Period	03/28/20 → 04/2/20

Funding

This research was supported by the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors (http://www.casl.gov), an Energy Innovation Hub (http://www.energy.gov/hubs) for Modeling and Simulation of Nuclear Reactors under US Department of Energy (DOE) Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725. This research also used resources of the Compute and Data Environment for Science (CADES) at ORNL, which is supported by the DOE Office of Science. ∗Notice: This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC, under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the US Department of Energy (DOE). The US government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the US government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for US government purposes. DOE will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan (http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan). This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC, under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the US Department of Energy (DOE). The US government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the US government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for US government purposes. DOE will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan (http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan).

Keywords

CASL
Ex-core
Hybrid methods

Access to Document

10.1051/epjconf/202124706024

Cite this

Pandya, T., Royston, K., Davidson, E., Evans, T., Godfrey, A., Henderson, S., Gentry, C., Stimpson, S., & Collins, B. (2020). High-fidelity ex-core capabilities in VERA. In M. Margulis, & P. Blaise (Eds.), International Conference on Physics of Reactors: Transition to a Scalable Nuclear Future, PHYSOR 2020 (pp. 1118-1125). (International Conference on Physics of Reactors: Transition to a Scalable Nuclear Future, PHYSOR 2020; Vol. 2020-March). EDP Sciences - Web of Conferences. https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/202124706024

Pandya, Tara ; Royston, Katherine ; Davidson, Eva et al. / High-fidelity ex-core capabilities in VERA. International Conference on Physics of Reactors: Transition to a Scalable Nuclear Future, PHYSOR 2020. editor / Marat Margulis ; Partrick Blaise. EDP Sciences - Web of Conferences, 2020. pp. 1118-1125 (International Conference on Physics of Reactors: Transition to a Scalable Nuclear Future, PHYSOR 2020).

@inproceedings{08a3e9d7c01b43d588b842bc02fb8259,

title = "High-fidelity ex-core capabilities in VERA",

abstract = "High-fidelity nuclear reactor calculations have become increasingly important when considering lifetime extensions of the current nuclear fleet. The need for performing large calculations has led to development of advanced, novel methods for faster and more efficient computing system use. Under the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors (CASL), we have enabled the capability to perform high-fidelity ex-core calculations in the Virtual Environment for Reactor Applications (VERA) by coupling with the Shift Monte Carlo (MC) radiation transport package. The codes are coupled in-memory, allowing for the pin-by-pin fission source from the core simulator to be used by Shift. This unique capability allows the user to obtain both in-core and ex-core quantities by running a single simulation. Examples of ex-core calculations that can be performed include multicycle vessel fluence, detector response during reactor start-up and operation, and coupon fluence. One main advantage of the VERA ex-core capability is its flexibility and ease of use; users can select default settings with the standard VERA input for typical calculations or create their own ex-core geometry for specific cases. Also, Shift takes advantage of hybrid deterministic-MC methods to reduce variance and computational time. This paper details the full suite of VERA ex-core capabilities and provides input examples, simulation results, and computing resource use suggestions. These new capabilities have the potential to impact a wide user group in the nuclear community by enhancing and enabling high-fidelity light water reactor (LWR) ex-core calculations.",

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author = "Tara Pandya and Katherine Royston and Eva Davidson and Tom Evans and Andrew Godfrey and Shane Henderson and Cole Gentry and Shane Stimpson and Benjamin Collins",

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language = "English",

series = "International Conference on Physics of Reactors: Transition to a Scalable Nuclear Future, PHYSOR 2020",

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Pandya, T , Royston, K , Davidson, E , Evans, T , Godfrey, A , Henderson, S, Gentry, C, Stimpson, S & Collins, B 2020, High-fidelity ex-core capabilities in VERA. in M Margulis & P Blaise (eds), International Conference on Physics of Reactors: Transition to a Scalable Nuclear Future, PHYSOR 2020. International Conference on Physics of Reactors: Transition to a Scalable Nuclear Future, PHYSOR 2020, vol. 2020-March, EDP Sciences - Web of Conferences, pp. 1118-1125, 2020 International Conference on Physics of Reactors: Transition to a Scalable Nuclear Future, PHYSOR 2020, Cambridge, United Kingdom, 03/28/20. https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/202124706024

High-fidelity ex-core capabilities in VERA. / Pandya, Tara ; Royston, Katherine ; Davidson, Eva et al.
International Conference on Physics of Reactors: Transition to a Scalable Nuclear Future, PHYSOR 2020. ed. / Marat Margulis; Partrick Blaise. EDP Sciences - Web of Conferences, 2020. p. 1118-1125 (International Conference on Physics of Reactors: Transition to a Scalable Nuclear Future, PHYSOR 2020; Vol. 2020-March).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

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AU - Davidson, Eva

AU - Evans, Tom

AU - Godfrey, Andrew

AU - Henderson, Shane

AU - Gentry, Cole

AU - Stimpson, Shane

AU - Collins, Benjamin

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © The Authors, published by EDP Sciences. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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N2 - High-fidelity nuclear reactor calculations have become increasingly important when considering lifetime extensions of the current nuclear fleet. The need for performing large calculations has led to development of advanced, novel methods for faster and more efficient computing system use. Under the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors (CASL), we have enabled the capability to perform high-fidelity ex-core calculations in the Virtual Environment for Reactor Applications (VERA) by coupling with the Shift Monte Carlo (MC) radiation transport package. The codes are coupled in-memory, allowing for the pin-by-pin fission source from the core simulator to be used by Shift. This unique capability allows the user to obtain both in-core and ex-core quantities by running a single simulation. Examples of ex-core calculations that can be performed include multicycle vessel fluence, detector response during reactor start-up and operation, and coupon fluence. One main advantage of the VERA ex-core capability is its flexibility and ease of use; users can select default settings with the standard VERA input for typical calculations or create their own ex-core geometry for specific cases. Also, Shift takes advantage of hybrid deterministic-MC methods to reduce variance and computational time. This paper details the full suite of VERA ex-core capabilities and provides input examples, simulation results, and computing resource use suggestions. These new capabilities have the potential to impact a wide user group in the nuclear community by enhancing and enabling high-fidelity light water reactor (LWR) ex-core calculations.

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Pandya T , Royston K , Davidson E , Evans T , Godfrey A , Henderson S et al. High-fidelity ex-core capabilities in VERA. In Margulis M, Blaise P, editors, International Conference on Physics of Reactors: Transition to a Scalable Nuclear Future, PHYSOR 2020. EDP Sciences - Web of Conferences. 2020. p. 1118-1125. (International Conference on Physics of Reactors: Transition to a Scalable Nuclear Future, PHYSOR 2020). doi: 10.1051/epjconf/202124706024

High-fidelity ex-core capabilities in VERA

Abstract

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Conference

Funding

Keywords

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