Parallel Computing in SCALE

Conference · Fri May 14 00:00:00 EDT 2010

OSTI ID:980712

DeHart, Mark D. ^[1]; Williams, Mark L. ^[1]; Bowman, Stephen M. ^[1]

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1. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

The SCALE computational architecture has remained basically the same since its inception 30 years ago, although constituent modules and capabilities have changed significantly. This SCALE concept was intended to provide a framework whereby independent codes can be linked to provide a more comprehensive capability than possible with the individual programs - allowing flexibility to address a wide variety of applications. However, the current system was designed originally for mainframe computers with a single CPU and with significantly less memory than today's personal computers. It has been recognized that the present SCALE computation system could be restructured to take advantage of modern hardware and software capabilities, while retaining many of the modular features of the present system. Preliminary work is being done to define specifications and capabilities for a more advanced computational architecture. This paper describes the state of current SCALE development activities and plans for future development. With the release of SCALE 6.1 in 2010, a new phase of evolutionary development will be available to SCALE users within the TRITON and NEWT modules. The SCALE (Standardized Computer Analyses for Licensing Evaluation) code system developed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) provides a comprehensive and integrated package of codes and nuclear data for a wide range of applications in criticality safety, reactor physics, shielding, isotopic depletion and decay, and sensitivity/uncertainty (S/U) analysis. Over the last three years, since the release of version 5.1 in 2006, several important new codes have been introduced within SCALE, and significant advances applied to existing codes. Many of these new features became available with the release of SCALE 6.0 in early 2009. However, beginning with SCALE 6.1, a first generation of parallel computing is being introduced. In addition to near-term improvements, a plan for longer term SCALE enhancement activities has been developed to provide an integrated framework for future methods development. Some of the major components of the SCALE parallel computing development plan are parallelization and multithreading of computationally intensive modules and redesign of the fundamental SCALE computational architecture.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 980712
• Resource Relation: Conference: PHYSOR 2010 - Advances in Reactor Physics to Power the Nuclear Renaissance, Pittsburgh, PA (United States), 9-14 May 2010
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING
ARCHITECTURE
COMPUTERS
CRITICALITY
DATA
DECAY
EVALUATION
FLEXIBILITY
LICENSING
ORNL
PERSONAL COMPUTERS
POWER
RANGE
REACTOR PHYSICS
SAFETY
SALAMANDERS
SHIELDING
SPECIFICATIONS
USES
Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
SCALE Computational Architecture
Restructuring
Current SCALE Development Activities
Future Development Plans
SCALE 6.0
SCALE 6.1
Parallel Computing
SCALE Enhancement Activities