Interim report on fuel cycle neutronics code development.
As part of the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP), a fast reactor simulation program was launched in April 2007 to develop a suite of modern simulation tools specifically for the analysis and design of sodium cooled fast reactors. The general goal of the new suite of codes is to reduce the uncertainties and biases in the various areas of reactor design activities by enhanced prediction capabilities. Under this fast reactor simulation program, a high-fidelity deterministic neutron transport code named UNIC is being developed. The final objective is to produce an integrated, advanced neutronics code that allows the high fidelity description of a nuclear reactor and simplifies the multi-step design process by direct coupling with thermal-hydraulics and structural mechanics calculations. Currently there are three solvers for the neutron transport code incorporated in UNIC: PN2ND, SN2ND, and MOCFE. PN2ND is based on a second-order even-parity spherical harmonics discretization of the transport equation and its primary target area of use is the existing homogenization approaches that are prevalent in reactor physics. MOCFE is based upon the method of characteristics applied to an unstructured finite element mesh and its primary target area of use is the fine grained nature of the explicit geometrical problems which is the long term goal of this project. SN2ND is based on a second-order, even-parity discrete ordinates discretization of the transport equation and its primary target area is the modeling transition region between the PN2ND and MOCFE solvers. The major development goal in fiscal year 2008 for the MOCFE solver was to include a two-dimensional capability that is scalable to hundreds of processors. The short term goal of this solver is to solve two-dimensional representations of reactor systems such that the energy and spatial self-shielding are accounted for and reliable cross sections can be generated for the homogeneous calculations. In this report we present good results for an OECD benchmark obtained using the new two-dimensional capability of the MOCFE solver. Additional work on the MOCFE solver is focused on studying the current parallelization algorithms that can be applied to both the two- and three-dimensional implementations such that they are scalable to thousands of processors. The initial research into this topic indicates that, as expected, the current parallelization scheme is not sufficiently scalable for the detailed reactor geometry that it is intended for. As a consequence, we are starting the investigative research to determine the alternatives that are applicable for massively parallel machines. The major development goal in fiscal year 2008 for the PN2ND and SN2ND solvers was to introduce parallelism by angle and energy. The motivation for this is two-fold: (1) reduce the memory burden by picking a simpler preconditioner with reduced matrix storage and (2) improve parallel performance by solving the angular subsystems of the within group equation simultaneously. The solver development in FY2007 focused on using PETSc to solve the within group equation where only spatial parallelization was utilized. Because most homogeneous problems required relatively few spatial degrees of freedom (tens of thousands) the only way to improve the parallelism was to spread the angular moment subsystems across the parallel system. While the coding has been put into place for parallelization by space, angle, and group, we have not optimized any of the solvers and therefore do not give an assessment of the achievement of this work in this report. The immediate task to be completed is to implement and validate Tchebychev acceleration of the fission source iteration algorithm (inverse power method in this work) and optimize both the PN2ND and SN2ND solvers. We further intend to extend the applicability of the UNIC code by adding a first-order discrete ordinates solver termed SN1ST. Upon completion of this work, all memory usage problems are to be identified and studied in the solvers with the intent of making the new version of an exportable production code in either FY2008 or FY2009. This report covers the status of these tasks and discusses the work yet to be completed.
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC02-06CH11357
- OSTI ID:
- 928676
- Report Number(s):
- ANL-AFCI-222; TRN: US0803448
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- ENGLISH
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Related Subjects
29 ENERGY PLANNING
POLICY AND ECONOMY
ACCELERATION
ALGORITHMS
BENCHMARKS
CROSS SECTIONS
DEGREES OF FREEDOM
DISCRETE ORDINATE METHOD
FAST REACTORS
FISSION
FUEL CYCLE
GEOMETRY
NEUTRON TRANSPORT
NUCLEAR ENERGY
OECD
REACTOR PHYSICS
REACTORS
SELF-SHIELDING
SODIUM
SPHERICAL HARMONICS
STORAGE
TARGETS
THERMAL HYDRAULICS
TRANSPORT