Core/system modeling and simulation: state-of-the-art, R&D needs and new ideas

Especially in Europe, the status of the core and system simulation is an essential point for the licensing of future nuclear reactor plants. In the light water reactor (LWR) technology, the development of modern coupled thermal hydraulics/neutronics simulation tools has undergone a rapid development in the late 90ies and during the first years of the new century. The simulation standard in LWR is described with a detailed view into the available codes and methods including the calculation chain for the coupled thermal hydraulics/neutronics steady state core analysis. Further on, the simulation capabilities for the load following and for the transient analysis in LWR cores are discussed. The overview will be closed with a description of the coupled simulations for the core integrated into the whole reactor system using the core simulators together with the system simulation codes for the description of transients which are induced or influenced by the primary or even the secondary system.
The current capabilities for the simulation of the core and system behavior of fast reactors in steady state as well as during transients are discussed in comparison with the described state-of-the-art in LWR to demonstrate the currently available possibilities and to define the development demand.
Advantage in the development of simulation codes for fast reactors can be taken from the state-of-the-art available in LWR technology. Conclusions are drawn about the required extensions needed to make the LWR code systems usable for fast reactor simulation. Two code systems under development and validation are presented to give an insight into the newest advances in the topic. The major point in the future for these works is the validation of the extended codes. For his topic, an outlook is given to the IAEA CRP on the EBR-II benchmark proposed by the Argonne National Lab., which is a good opportunity for the code validation.