Development of neutronic and thermal-hydraulic coupled calculational methodologies for research reactors including treatment of uncertainties

The design, safety analysis, operation and utilization of research reactors require ever improving calculational methodologies for analysis of reactor physics. This is the case particularly in the light of more stringent safety requirements, need for increased utilization and higher power density considerations in both existing reactors and new designs. These trends lead to the need for more accurate, higher fidelity, multi-physics approaches in performing research reactor analysis, with requirements which move ever closer to the computational methods and tools that historically have been mainly used in nuclear power reactor modelling.
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Here, we can consider two major emerging areas in research reactor modelling – firstly the use of fully-coupled neutronic and thermal-hydraulic analysis schemes, both for steady state and transient cases, and secondly the use of uncertainty and sensitivity evaluations, as applied to such best estimate analysis.
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This Coordinated Research Project (CRP) aims to evaluate, establish, and stimulate the development of such computational methods and tools for analysis of reactor physics. For this aim, it is also proposed to develop both computational benchmarks (for verification) and benchmarks based on experimental data (for validation).