OECD NEA’s workshop on reactor systems seeks participants

The purpose: The workshop is intended to bring together students and young professionals in the nuclear sector with the expert community from the NEA Working Party on Scientific Issues and Uncertainty Analysis of Reactor Systems (WPRS).

The workshop, which has strong links to the NEA Global Forum on Nuclear Education, Science, Technology and Policy, has been developed jointly by North Carolina State University, the Radiation Safety Information Computational Center (RSICC) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the NEA WPRS. The in-person segment of SINUS will be hosted by the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy, and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA) in Bologna, Italy, on May 22–23.

Technical sessions: The technical content of the training sessions is based on the LWR UAM benchmark. It follows specifications for selected exercises from the three phases of the benchmark. The scope is on quantifying and propagating relevant significant uncertainties through different single physics and multiphysics modeling and simulation of nuclear reactor cores using the pressurized water reactor test cases.

Training will include exercises with state-of-the-art reactor simulation packages, which will be provided by the NEA data bank and the RSICC.

The course will feature lectures by staff members from NCSU, as well as experts from the WPRS and its groups. SINUS training sessions will take place in a hybrid format. Each participant will receive a certificate of completion at the end of the course.

Remote training: The remote training will run from May 1 to 12, 2023. It includes 20 hours of online lectures and practical exercises (approximately 4 hours per day, per session). The exercises will be based on examples taken from the benchmark for LWR UAM of the WPRS and will focus on quantifying and propagating relevant significant uncertainties through different single physics and multiphysics modeling and simulation of nuclear reactor cores using PWR test cases. The course will also feature homework assignments and computer projects for participant teams to be completed and presented during the in-person sessions.

There are five virtual training sessions:

• Session 1: Multiscale reactor physics
• Session 2: Fuel modeling
• Session 3: Time-dependent neutronics
• Session 4: Bundle thermal hydraulics
• Session 5: Core multiphysics

In-person training: In-person training will take place in Bologna, Italy, on May 22–23. The NEA will fund participants’ travel costs. In-person sessions will include participants’ presentations on their findings from computer projects and experts’ comments and discussions.