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Modeling & Simulation Advances Brighten Future Nuclear Power By Hussein Khalil, Argonne National Laboratory. Bob Hill and Jim Cahalan from the Nuclear Engineering Division and Andrew Siegel from the Mathematics & Computer Science Division also contributed. 1. What applications have you currently undertaken for design, operation, or construction of nuclear power plants Applications of leadership class computers for nuclear energy R&D at Argonne have so far focused mainly on development and design of advanced sodium cooled fast reactors (SFR), which target sustainable energy generation, waste minimization, assured passive safety, and competitive economics. To enable these applications we are developing a modern computational framework that uses advanced software tools and computational methods for simulation of multi-physics (neutronic, thermalhydraulic, mechanical, etc.) phenomena in complex reactor geometries. This framework, named SHARP (Simulation for High-efficiency Advanced Reactor Prototyping), enables high-fidelity simulation of reactor behavior taking advantage of the enormous computing power afforded by leadership class computers. Its design provides flexibility to employ less detailed (faster running) models and to couple the different physics modules tightly or loosely depending on problem characteristics and accuracy requirements. A key goal of our development is to integrate improved methods for characterizing the uncertainty in predicted quantities within the analysis framework. To demonstrate the benefit of leadership class computers for SFR analysis, two computationally intensive applications of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) techniques are being Responses to questions by Newal Agnihotri, Editor of Nuclear Plant Journal. Hussein Khalil Hussein S. Khalil is director of Argonne’s Nuclear Engineering Division and is responsible for the Lab’s research carried out using the IBM Blue Gene/P supercomputer at Argonne’s Leadership Class Computing Facility (see http:// www.alcf.anl.gov): • Detailed characterization of turbulent coolant flow and heat transfer in SFR wire-wrapped fuel pin bundles. • Investigation of transient flow fluctuations (thermal striping) in the SFR upper plenum region where the coolant discharged from fuel assemblies mixes. Additionally, we are performing high-order, multigroup neutron transport calculations for a highly detailed model of a SFR core. Blue Gene/P was just officially clocked as the fastest computer in the world dedicated to open science and is the third fastest computer in the world overall. It uses 163,840 parallel compute nodes to execute at a clock rate of nearly 0.56 petaflops (1 petaflop = 10 15 floating point operations per second) with a total RAM of 80 terabytes. A simulation that would take two years on a standard PC can now be done in ten minutes. Access to BG/P is granted using a competitive peer reviewed process. 2. Will your system analysis cut down the capital cost of NPP Nuclear Steam Supply System by making the fuel and the thermal hydraulics more effi cient on nuclear reactor technology and nuclear non-proliferation. He has worked at Argonne since 1983 and became a Senior Scientist in 2001. He has a Ph.D. from MIT (1983) and an MBA from the University of Chicago (1996). Dr. Khalil is an internationally recognized expert in nuclear reactor physics and engineering. His research has centered on the advancement of reactor analysis methods and their application for fast reactor design optimization. The computational capabilities under development will enable more precise representation (modeling) of the reactor and power plant configuration and more accurate solution of the equations describing reactor neutronic, irradiation, thermal, fluid flow, and structural/mechanical behavior. This degree of modeling fidelity, combined with enhanced capability for uncertainty characterization, will make it possible to design and operate reactors closer to the true physical capabilities of the fuel, materials of construction and components. When these high fidelity modeling capabilities are employed in the design process, unnecessary conservatism in reactor design and operation can be reduced without compromising safety assurance. 3. Will your computational tools also facilitate optimizing the usage of fuel by providing assistance in designing and in operation The high fidelity models being integrated in SHARP allow greatly improved characterization of fuel operating conditions over its lifetime. Results of these advanced models can be employed in models of fuel behavior (a key component of the overall code system) to support the optimization of fuel design (Continued on page 20) 18 http://subscribe.npjonline.com http://www.NPJOnline.com Nuclear Plant Journal, September-October 2008
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