Safety Research for Nuclear Reactors
Energy > Nuclear Waste Management and Safety as well as Radiation Research - All Topics
Although Germany decided to shut down all nuclear reactors for energy production until 2022, own reactor safety research is needed in future. The preservation of competence in nuclear engineering is essential for the safety assessment of nuclear power plants and nuclear projects in Germany and abroad. Only in that way Germany is able to influence international safety standards and to participate in international research projects.
Based on this background the work within the topic “Reactor Safety” is concentrated on the research on safety aspects of currently operating nuclear reactors and new reactor types being under development in the neighboring countries. It covers the development of methods for analyses of transients and postulated accidents, the investigation of ageing phenomena in materials and integrity of components, and the safety related aspects connected with the thermal fluid dynamics of cooling water or liquid metal flows. Especially after the Fukushima accident in 2011, the efforts on the investigation of accident management measures in nuclear reactors have been increased.
Objectives
- Development and validation of neutron kinetic and thermal hydraulic methods for the analysis of design basis and severe accidents for nuclear reactors.
- Development and qualification of predictive Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) models for two-phase flows
- Conduction of industry-grade experiments for code validation using innovative measuring techniques (TOPFLOW facility)
- Exploration of the mechanisms of irradiation effects in reactor pressure vessel steels and Gen-IV candidate materials by means of nanostructural characterization, atomistic modelling and mechanical testing
Press Releases
Involved HZDR institutes
Collaborations
- HZDR is a member of the "Kompetenzverbund Ost für Kerntechnik".
- HZDR participates in the NURESAFE project of the EU.
Contacts
Publications
- Lindqvist, S.; Kolluri, M.; Cinger, D. et al.
Master Curve reference temperature behavior of steels with varying Ni/Mn content and subjected to a fluence of 11x10E19 neutron/cm²
International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping 214(2025), 105421 (10.1016/j.ijpvp.2024.105421) - Gu, B.; Chekhonin, P.; Chulist, R. et al.
Texture of Hot-Compressed Metastable β-Titanium Alloy Ti5321 Studied by Neutron Diffraction
Materials 17(2024)17, 4418 (10.3390/ma17174418) - Fridman, E.; Smith, J.; Kotlyar, D.
Insights into calculating Reference Discontinuity Factors with Serpent Monte Carlo code
Annals of Nuclear Energy 211(2025), 110997 (10.1016/j.anucene.2024.110997) - Ortner, S.; Sanchez, M.; Echols, J. et al.
Validity of Toughness Measurements From Miniature Specimens Failing in Different Fracture Modes
Journal of Pressure Vessel Technology 146(2024), 051501 (10.1115/1.4065854) - Altstadt, E.; Bergner, F.; Brandenburg, J.-E. et al.
Recovery of neutron-irradiated VVER-440 RPV base metal and weld exposed to isothermal annealing at 343 °C up to 2000 hours
Frontiers in Nuclear Engineering 3(2024), 1446635 (10.3389/fnuen.2024.1446635) - Li, S.; Liao, Y.
CFD Investigation of Bubble Breakup and Coalescence in a Rectangular Pool-Scrubbing Column
Nuclear Engineering and Design 425(2024), 113342 (10.1016/j.nucengdes.2024.113342) - Meller, R.; Krull, B.; Schlegel, F. et al.
Numerical Transfer Towards Unresolved Morphology Representation in the MultiMorph Model
Nuclear Engineering and Design 428(2024), 113470 (10.1016/j.nucengdes.2024.113470) - Lai, L.; Brandenburg, J.-E.; Chekhonin, P. et al.
Microstructure-informed prediction of hardening in ion-irradiated reactor pressure vessel steels
Metals 14(2024)3, 257 (10.3390/met14030257) - Diaz Pescador, E.; Bilodid, Y.; Jobst, M. et al.
NuScale-like SMR Model Development and Applied Safety Analyses with the Code Chain Serpent-DYN3D-ATHLET
Nuclear Engineering and Design 418(2024), 112909 (10.1016/j.nucengdes.2024.112909) - Boden, S.; Hampel, U.; Pietruske, H. et al.
Investigation on flow morphology and heat transfer for high-pressure steam condensation in an inclined tube at low inlet steam qualities
Nuclear Engineering and Design 419(2024), 112954 (10.1016/j.nucengdes.2024.112954) - Bois, G.; Fillion, P.; Francois, F. et al.
Benchmark DEBORA: Assessment of MCFD compared to high-pressure boiling pipe flow measurements
International Journal of Multiphase Flow 179(2024), 104920 (10.1016/j.ijmultiphaseflow.2024.104920) - Belon, S. B.; Ederli, S.; Jobst, M.
Advances from R2CA project on reactor simulations for burst rod number evaluation during LOCA
Annals of Nuclear Energy 208(2024), 110772 (10.1016/j.anucene.2024.110772) - Wu, W.; Hampel, U.; Sun, B. et al.
A numerical study on heat transfer and boiling crisis in twisted heat exchanger tubes
International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 241(2025), 126745 (10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2025.126745) - Sharma, D.; Etienne, A.; Henry, R. et al.
Understanding the effect of phosphorous on the ion-irradiation behaviour of RPV model steels using atom probe tomography and nanoindentation
Acta Materialia 270(2024), 119859 (10.1016/j.actamat.2024.119859) - Nikitin, E.; Ponomarev, A.; Fridman, E.
Analysis of loss of flow without scram test in the FFTF reactor: Coupled 3D neutronics and thermal hydraulics analysis with DYN3D/ATHLET code system
Nuclear Engineering and Design 433(2025), 113833 (10.1016/j.nucengdes.2025.113833) - Ponomarev, A.; Nikitin, E.; Fridman, E.
Analysis of loss of flow without scram test in the FFTF reactor – Part II: System thermal hydraulics with point neutron kinetics
Progress in Nuclear Energy 170(2024), 105130 (10.1016/j.pnucene.2024.105130) - Jobst, M.; Schäfer, F.; Kliem, S.
Numerical investigation on steam condensation and heat transfer in an emergency condenser tube with the thermo-hydraulic system code ATHLET: Post-test simulation of a series of COSMEA tests
Nuclear Engineering and Design 421(2024), 113059 (10.1016/j.nucengdes.2024.113059) - Liao, Y.
CFD modelling of flashing flows for nuclear safety analysis: possibilities and challenges
Kerntechnik 89(2024)2, 169-184 (10.1515/kern-2023-0090) - Liao, Y.; Li, S.
Capture the morphology transfer process in a pool-scrubbing column with a hybrid multi-field two-fluid model
Nuclear Science and Engineering (2024), 1-17 (10.1080/00295639.2024.2365035) - Das, A.; Viehrig, H. W.; Bergner, F. et al.
Effect of microstructural anisotropy on fracture toughness of hot rolled 13Cr ODS steel – the role of primary and secondary cracking
Journal of Nuclear Materials 491(2017), 83-93 (10.1016/j.jnucmat.2017.04.059) - Liao, Y.; Lucas, D.
Computational modelling of flashing flows: a literature survey
International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 111(2017), 246-265 (10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2017.03.121) - Grahn, A.; Gommlich, A.; Kliem, S. et al.
Simulation of an MSLB scenario using the 3D neutron kinetic core model Dyn3D coupled with the CFD software Trio U
Nuclear Engineering and Design 315(2017), 117-127 (10.1016/j.nucengdes.2017.02.002) - Höhne, T.; Gasiunas, S.; Šeporaitis, M.
Numerical Modelling of a Direct Contact Condensation Experiment using the AIAD Framework
International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 111(2017), 211-222 (10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2017.03.104)