TVA a part of nuclear simulation project

The new program is supposed to use the world's most powerful computers to make "significant leaps" in the design and engineering of nuclear reactors, improve operations of existing reactors and help extend their lifetime, and ultimately re-establish U.S. leadership in nuclear energy. If the five-year effort is successful, it could be extended for another five years.

"We're really honored and excited to have this opportunity. I can't wait to get started," Doug Kothe, scientific director at ORNL's National Center for Computational Sciences, said. Kothe, a nuclear engineer, headed the proposal team and will become director of what's being called the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors CASL.

Besides TVA, other major partners include the Westinghouse Electric Co. Los Alamos National Laboratory Electric Power Research Institute Idaho National Laboratory Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sandia National Laboratories North Carolina State University and the University of Michigan.

The project will bring together experts from different disciplines and institutions, enabling engineers to create enhanced simulations of a currently operating nuclear reactor. That will serve as a "virtual model" of the reactor, and researchers can then validate their results with actual data from an operating reactor.

ORNL Director Thom Mason said TVA has different types of reactors in its fleet, representing many of the designs currently used in operating U.S. reactors. "That diversity is actually helpful," he said.

A bonus aspect of the TVA partnership is that the Watts Bar 2 reactor is coming online shortly - in 2012, Mason said. "It will be a brand-new start, where all the initial conditions are known, so from a modeling point of view, that's attractive," the ORNL director said.

Mason said Jaguar, ORNL's Cray XT5 supercomputer that's currently rated as the world's fastest machine, will be used for the reactor simulation work. But other computers will be used as well, including the Kraken - a University of Tennessee/National Science Foundation machine that's also located at ORNL - and the IBM Roadrunner machine at Los Alamos National Lab in New Mexico, he said.

"A predictive simulation tool is kind of like a time machine," Kothe said. "We can predict what's going to happen in 30 years."

Extending the life of a nuclear reactor usually boils down to dealing with material problems, Kothe said. By simulating how materials are going to age in the harsh environment of a nuclear core, engineers can better assess how long a reactor can safely operate or determine what changes can be made to allow the reactor to run longer, the ORNL official said.