NEAMS Update. Quarterly Report for April - June 2012

Technical Report · Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2012

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1051237· OSTI ID:1051237

Bradley, Keith S.. ^[1]; Hayes, S.; Pointer, D.; Summers, R.; Sadasivan, P.; Sun, X.; Bernholdt, D.; Miller, M.; Stewart, J.

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1. Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

Quarterly Highlights: The interface of AMP was changed to prepare it for integration with Sharp; Bison was enhanced with improved models for cladding and coolant channels; FRAPCON and OECD-NEA databases are being used to evaluate Bison; The validation of Bison is being implemented with the recently developed discovery, accumulation, and assessment process; A study of microstructure and fission gas bubbles in UO2_f fuels showed how these characteristics affect fuel thermal conductivity; The thermal conductivity studies were informed by additional work on the kinetics of gas bubble evolution and cladding alloy properties, providing methods to express subcontinuum properties in continuum models; The new insights into the evolution of thermal conductivity in UO₂ fuels were used to drive mesoscale simulations with atomic-scale properties; The rapid development of Relap-7 continued, and initial modeling of a pressurized water reactor was successfully completed; Extension of Relap-7 to novel reactor concepts provided opportunities to refine the code; Risk grading of Relap-7 was completed; Simulations of the Advanced Test Reactor show that Proteus is ready to use; Simulations of an important pipe flow benchmark show that Nek5000 is also ready to use; Mesh generation for Sharp has advanced to unprecedented complexity, with the capability to create a mesh with up to 1,500,000 elements in an intricate configuration; A model for hydride reorientation in used fuel was demonstrated and implemented; Work continued on the use of molecular dynamics to simulate the crystalline properties of structural materials.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE), Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS)
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-06CH11357
• OSTI ID: 1051237
• Report Number(s): ANL-NE--12/34
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: ENGLISH