Design, Methods and Validation

 

​​​​​Design, Methods and Validation

The development, design, and construction of High-Temperature Reactors require a variety of analyses and computational methods. The gas-cooled thermal reactors built and operated in the United States and elsewhere to‑date are characterized by sustained operations at conditions that have substantial design and safety margins. The margins were designed to be large because the legacy analysis tools were not capable of calculating important local limiting parameters with sufficient accuracy to reduce the safety margins.

The Design Methods and Validation program provides experience and advanced tools for Hight-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor design and analysis activities. Most of these tools are already available and consist of a mixture of commercial software and software written at the national laboratories. Only limited tool development is necessary for High-Temperature Reactor methods. The Design Methods and Validation Control Account consists of five different areas: 1) Experimental activities for code validation, 2) Model​​ling and Simulation, 3) International Collaborations, 4) Provide HTRs model​ling expertise to other programs, and 5) Train the next generation with universities Collaborations.​

​ Experimental Activities for Code Validation ​​Natural Convection Shutdown Heat Removal Test Facility (NSTF)   High-Temperature Test Facility (HTTF)			​​​	​
​			​ Modell​ing and Simulation RELAP5-3D MOOSE, Griffin, Pronghorn, BISON STARCCM+ SERPENT SCALE Monte Carlo N-Particle (MCNP)
​​International Collaborations GEN IV International Forum – Very High-Temperature Reactor Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) – Loss of Forced Coolant (LOFC) project NEA – Thermal hydraulic code validation benchmark using High-Temperature Test Facility data: coming soon			​
​			​​Provide HTRs Modell​ing Expertise to other Programs: Nuclear Energy Advanced Model​ing & Simulation (NEAMS) Tools Verification and Validation Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP) Industry Funding Opportunity Announcement (iFOA) Microreactor Program
​Train the Next Generation with Universities Collaborations North Carolina State University (NCSU) ​​​Oregon State University ​(OSU) Texas A&M University ​ (TAMU)​​ University of Michigan (UMICH​)​	​​ ​​ ​