Vision Document for the AMP Nuclear Fuel Performance Code

Abstract

The Advanced Modeling and Simulation Office (AMSO) with the United States (U.S.) Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE/NE) oversees the Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) program and the Consortium for Advanced LWR Simulation (CASL), an Energy Innovation Hub. NEAMS is a program to develop advanced modeling and simulation capabilities for state-of-the-art and next generation nuclear energy applications and is composed of four Integrated Performance and Safety Code (IPSC) elements and four Cross-Cutting elements. The vision for the Fuels IPSC is to deliver an assessed (verified and validated) simulation capability to the fuel design and research community that is capable of predicting the behavior of nuclear fuel, cladding, and structural materials during nominal operation and anticipated operational transients that are beyond the well validated empirical basis that has historically required many integral experiments and operational experience for even moderate changes to fuel designs. Within the Fuels IPSC, the AMP(Advanced MultiPhysics) Nuclear Fuel Performance code (AMP) is targeted for the design and evaluation of Integral Effects Experiments, prediction and evaluation of in-reactor operation, and sensitivity/uncertainty evaluations that will be used to guide the development of lower-length-scale (LLS) research. There is also substantial work in progress to understand the lower-length-scale physics (grain-scale and below) of nuclear fuel, cladding, and structural materials within the Fuels IPSC, as well as the Fundamental Methods and Models (FMM) Cross-Cutting program element.