Computational model development and validation of fuel dispersal phenomena
As the US nuclear industry is renewing efforts to extend the rod average burnup limits in existing pressurized water reactors, it becomes imperative to investigate the safety implications associated with high burnup fuel fragmentation and the potential dispersal of fragmented fuel into the reactor coolant system. Additionally, as there is a growing interest in transitioning […]
Fusion Modeling & Simulation Workshop Outcomes
A workshop was held on 10/04/2022 gathering Idaho National Laboratory (INL) experts to develop a roadmap for future fusion-related modeling & simulation (M&S) activities. A total of 43 participants, (34 in-person and 9 remote) contributed to the workshop. After a plenary session with presentations from the National Reactor Innovation Center (NRIC) and the Institutional Planning […]
Coupling Thermal-Hydraulics with Reactor Pressure Vessel Fracture Models
Because of the importance of maintaining the integrity of the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) in light-water reactors, significant effort has been devoted over the last several decades to understand the potential failure mechanisms, characterize how material properties evolve due to environmental conditions, and develop tools to assess the probability of fracture in aged RPVs during […]
General multi-fidelity surrogate models: Framework and active learning strategies for efficient rare event simulation
Estimating the probability of failure for complex real-world systems using high-fidelity computational models is often prohibitively expensive, especially when the probability is small. Exploiting low-fidelity models can make this process more feasible, but merging information from multiple low-fidelity and high-fidelity models poses several challenges. This paper presents a robust multi-fidelity surrogate modeling strategy in which […]
Engineering-scale Modeling of High-Temperature Creep and Creep Crack Growth in Alloy 316H
This document demonstrates completion of the goals described in the technical narrative of the De- partment of Energy’s Industry Funding Opportunity Announcement (iFOA) project entitled “Modeling and Simulation Development Pathways to Accelerating KP-FHR Licensing,” which relates to the development and demonstration of capabilities for conducting engineering-scale simulations of Alloy 316H components under high-temperature conditions. This […]
Summary of Development for Structural Component Modeling in Fiscal Year 2022
This report summarizes efforts performed during Fiscal Year 2022 to develop capabilities for modeling structural component degradation in support of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation Program. These efforts were centered around development of capabilities for the Grizzly code. Efforts focused both on foundational engineering-scale analysis capabilities for damage and […]
Fission Product Transport in TRISO Particles and Pebbles
This document demonstrates completion of the goals described in the technical narrative of the FOA project titled: ”Modeling and Simulation Development Pathways to Accelerating KP-FHR Licensing” regarding fission product transport in the Kairos-proposed fuel pebble by INL and Kairos Power. Showcased in this report are code developments and simulations in BISON that extend the state […]
Cracking in first ramp to power of standard versus high thermal conductivity UO2 pellets via internal nuclear heating
Advanced fuel designs that incorporate thinner fuel UO2 pellets interspaced by high thermal conductivity inserts have been proposed, with the primary goals of reducing peak centerline temperatures and temperature gradients across fuel pellets and enhancing heat transfer from the fuel to the coolant. An initial series of experiments has been performed on this design, including […]
Verification of Bison fission product species conservation under TRISO reactor conditions
When assessing the reliability and predictive capabilities of a simulation tool, code verification is used to ensure that the implemented numerical algorithm is a faithful representation of its underlying mathematical model, including partial differential or integral equations, initial and boundary conditions, and auxiliary relationships. During this process, numerical results in a discrete solution are compared […]
MOOSE Stochastic Tools: A module for performing parallel, memory efficient in-situ stochastic simulations
Stochastic simulations are ubiquitous across scientific disciplines. The Multiphysics Object-Oriented Simulation Environment (MOOSE) includes an optional module – stochastic tools – for implementing stochastic simulations. It implements an efficient and scalable scheme for performing stochastic analysis in memory. It can be used for building meta models to reduce the computational expense of multiphysics problems as […]