Next Generation Nuclear Plant Methods Research and Development Technical Program Plan -- PLN-2498

Technical Report · Mon Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 2008

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/950995· OSTI ID:950995

Schultz, Richard R; Ougouag, Abderrafi M; Nigg, David W; Gougar, Hans D; Johnson, Richard W; Terry, William K; Oh, Chang H; McEligot, Donald W; Johnsen, Gary W; McCreery, Glenn E; Yoon, Woo Y; Sterbentz, James W; Herring, J Steve; Taiwo, Temitope A; Wei, Thomas Y. C.; Pointer, William D; Yang, Won S; Farmer, Michael T; Khalil, Hussein S; Feltus, Madeline A

One of the great challenges of designing and licensing the Very High Temperature Reactor (VHTR) is to confirm that the intended VHTR analysis tools can be used confidently to make decisions and to assure all that the reactor systems are safe and meet the performance objectives of the Generation IV Program. The research and development (R&D) projects defined in the Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) Design Methods Development and Validation Program will ensure that the tools used to perform the required calculations and analyses can be trusted. The Methods R&D tasks are designed to ensure that the calculational envelope of the tools used to analyze the VHTR reactor systems encompasses, or is larger than, the operational and transient envelope of the VHTR itself. The Methods R&D focuses on the development of tools to assess the neutronic and thermal fluid behavior of the plant. The fuel behavior and fission product transport models are discussed in the Advanced Gas Reactor (AGR) program plan. Various stress analysis and mechanical design tools will also need to be developed and validated and will ultimately also be included in the Methods R&D Program Plan. The calculational envelope of the neutronics and thermal-fluids software tools intended to be used on the NGNP is defined by the scenarios and phenomena that these tools can calculate with confidence. The software tools can only be used confidently when the results they produce have been shown to be in reasonable agreement with first-principle results, thought-problems, and data that describe the “highly ranked” phenomena inherent in all operational conditions and important accident scenarios for the VHTR.

• Research Organization: Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE - NE
• DOE Contract Number: DE-AC07-99ID-13727
• OSTI ID: 950995
• Report Number(s): INL/EXT-06-11804; TRN: US0902126
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
ACCIDENTS
DESIGN
FISSION PRODUCTS
LICENSING
PERFORMANCE
STRESS ANALYSIS
TRANSIENTS
TRANSPORT
VALIDATION
VHTR REACTOR
Gen-IV
neutronic behavior
software tools
thermal fluid behavior
Very High Temperature Reactor