The Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation Enabling Computational Technologies FY09 Report

The Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation Enabling Computational Technologies FY09 Report
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Total Pages: 77
Release: 2009
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In this document we report on the status of the Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) Enabling Computational Technologies (ECT) effort. In particular, we provide the context for ECT In the broader NEAMS program and describe the three pillars of the ECT effort, namely, (1) tools and libraries, (2) software quality assurance, and (3) computational facility (computers, storage, etc) needs. We report on our FY09 deliverables to determine the needs of the integrated performance and safety codes (IPSCs) in these three areas and lay out the general plan for software quality assurance to meet the requirements of DOE and the DOE Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative (AFCI). We conclude with a brief description of our interactions with the Idaho National Laboratory computer center to determine what is needed to expand their role as a NEAMS user facility.

Nuclear Energy -- Knowledge Base for Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NE-KAMS) Code Verification and Validation Data Standards and Requirements

Nuclear Energy -- Knowledge Base for Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NE-KAMS) Code Verification and Validation Data Standards and Requirements
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Release: 2011
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V & V and UQ are the primary means to assess the accuracy and reliability of M & S and, hence, to establish confidence in M & S. Though other industries are establishing standards and requirements for the performance of V & V and UQ, at present, the nuclear industry has not established such standards or requirements. However, the nuclear industry is beginning to recognize that such standards are needed and that the resources needed to support V & V and UQ will be very significant. In fact, no single organization has sufficient resources or expertise required to organize, conduct and maintain a comprehensive V & V and UQ program. What is needed is a systematic and standardized approach to establish and provide V & V and UQ resources at a national or even international level, with a consortium of partners from government, academia and industry. Specifically, what is needed is a structured and cost-effective knowledge base that collects, evaluates and stores verification and validation data, and shows how it can be used to perform V & V and UQ, leveraging collaboration and sharing of resources to support existing engineering and licensing procedures as well as science-based V & V and UQ processes. The Nuclear Energy Knowledge base for Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NE-KAMS) is being developed at the Idaho National Laboratory in conjunction with Bettis Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, Argonne National Laboratory, Utah State University and others with the objective of establishing a comprehensive and web-accessible knowledge base to provide V & V and UQ resources for M & S for nuclear reactor design, analysis and licensing. The knowledge base will serve as an important resource for technical exchange and collaboration that will enable credible and reliable computational models and simulations for application to nuclear power. NE-KAMS will serve as a valuable resource for the nuclear industry, academia, the national laboratories, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and the public and will help ensure the safe, economical and reliable operation of existing and future nuclear reactors.

Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) Waste Integrated Performance and Safety Codes (IPSC)

Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) Waste Integrated Performance and Safety Codes (IPSC)
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Total Pages: 129
Release: 2011
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This report describes the progress in fiscal year 2010 in developing the Waste Integrated Performance and Safety Codes (IPSC) in support of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) Campaign. The goal of the Waste IPSC is to develop an integrated suite of computational modeling and simulation capabilities to quantitatively assess the long-term performance of waste forms in the engineered and geologic environments of a radioactive waste storage or disposal system. The Waste IPSC will provide this simulation capability (1) for a range of disposal concepts, waste form types, engineered repository designs, and geologic settings, (2) for a range of time scales and distances, (3) with appropriate consideration of the inherent uncertainties, and (4) in accordance with robust verification, validation, and software quality requirements. Waste IPSC activities in fiscal year 2010 focused on specifying a challenge problem to demonstrate proof of concept, developing a verification and validation plan, and performing an initial gap analyses to identify candidate codes and tools to support the development and integration of the Waste IPSC. The current Waste IPSC strategy is to acquire and integrate the necessary Waste IPSC capabilities wherever feasible, and develop only those capabilities that cannot be acquired or suitably integrated, verified, or validated. This year-end progress report documents the FY10 status of acquisition, development, and integration of thermal-hydrologic-chemical-mechanical (THCM) code capabilities, frameworks, and enabling tools and infrastructure.

NEAMS

NEAMS
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Release: 2013
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Warthog

Warthog
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Total Pages: 32
Release: 2015
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The Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) program from the Department of Energy s Office of Nuclear Energy provides a robust toolkit for the modeling and simulation of current and future advanced nuclear reactor designs. This toolkit provides these technologies organized across product lines: two divisions targeted at fuels and end-to-end reactor modeling, and a third for integration, coupling, and high-level workflow management. The Fuels Product Line and the Reactor Product line provide advanced computational technologies that serve each respective field well, however, their current lack of integration presents a major impediment to future improvements of simulation solution fidelity. There is a desire for the capability to mix and match tools across Product Lines in an effort to utilize the best from both to improve NEAMS modeling and simulation technologies. This report will detail a new effort to provide this Product Line interoperability through the development of a new application called Warthog. This application couples the BISON Fuel Performance application from the Fuels Product Line and the PROTEUS Core Neutronics application from the Reactors Product Line in an effort to utilize the best from all parts of the NEAMS toolkit and improve overall solution fidelity of nuclear fuel simulations. To acheive this, Warthog leverages as much prior work from the NEAMS program as possible, and in doing so, enables interoperability between the disparate MOOSE and SHARP frameworks, and the libMesh and MOAB mesh data formats. The remainder of this report will describe this work in full. We will begin with a detailed look at the individual NEAMS framework technologies used and developed in the various Product Lines, and the current status of their interoperability. We will then introduce the Warthog application: its overall architecture and the ways it leverages the best existing tools from accross the NEAMS toolkit to enable BISON-PROTEUS integration. Furthermore, we will show how Warthog leverages a tool known as DataTransferKit to seamlessly enable the transfer for solution data between disparate frameworks and mesh formats. To end, we will demonstrate tests for the direct software coupling of BISON and PROTEUS using Warthog, and discuss current impediments and solutions to the construction of physically realistic input models for this coupled BISON-PROTEUS system.

Designing a Component-Based Architecture for the Modeling and Simulation of Nuclear Fuels and Reactors

Designing a Component-Based Architecture for the Modeling and Simulation of Nuclear Fuels and Reactors
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Release: 2009
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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.

Science Based Integrated Approach to Advanced Nuclear Fuel Development - Vision, Approach, and Overview

Science Based Integrated Approach to Advanced Nuclear Fuel Development - Vision, Approach, and Overview
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Release: 2010
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Advancing the performance of Light Water Reactors, Advanced Nuclear Fuel Cycles, and Advanced Rcactors, such as the Next Generation Nuclear Power Plants, requires enhancing our fundamental understanding of fuel and materials behavior under irradiation. The capability to accurately model the nuclear fuel systems is critical. In order to understand specific aspects of the nuclear fuel, fully coupled fuel simulation codes are required to achieve licensing of specific nuclear fuel designs for operation. The backbone of these codes, models, and simulations is a fundamental understanding and predictive capability for simulating the phase and microstructural behavior of the nuclear fuel system materials and matrices. The purpose of this paper is to identify the modeling and simulation approach in order to deliver predictive tools for advanced fuels development. The coordination between experimental nuclear fuel design, development technical experts, and computational fuel modeling and simulation technical experts is a critical aspect of the approach and naturally leads to an integrated, goal-oriented science-based R & D approach and strengthens both the experimental and computational efforts. The Advanced Fuels Campaign (AFC) and Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) Fuels Integrated Performance and Safety Code (IPSC) are working together to determine experimental data and modeling needs. The primary objective of the NEAMS fuels IPSC project is to deliver a coupled, three-dimensional, predictive computational platform for modeling the fabrication and both normal and abnormal operation of nuclear fuel pins and assemblies, applicable to both existing and future reactor fuel designs. The science based program is pursuing the development of an integrated multi-scale and multi-physics modeling and simulation platform for nuclear fuels. This overview paper discusses the vision, goals and approaches how to develop and implement the new approach.