The Digital Nuclear Reactor Initiative: First steps towards advanced applications

Abstract

A large-scale research and development project, the Digital Nuclear Reactor initiative, involving the major players in the French nuclear industry has started in 2020. The project aims at developing an advanced Digital Twin comprising two innovative products: (1) a service platform for studies and (2) a new kind of simulator to respond to the growing demand of “just in time” training. After a brief overview of the Digital Nuclear Reactor initiative, the paper will focus on the service platform for advanced studies. This workbench, based on SALOME building-blocks, provides access to multi-physics and multi-scale simulations based on specialized codes couplings that can be adopted for developing new methods and expertise in support to reactor operation and design. An overview of the architectural choices implemented for allowing a modular structure of the workbench is presented. In order to illustrate the service platform functionalities, several scenarios involving different physics and scales approaches are described. Based on those scenarios, it has been possible to answer to the goal of the codes interoperability and interchangeability and their coupling with uncertainties platforms (i.e. URANIE, OpenTURNS). Specific examples are provided to illustrate the main achievements and some possible perspectives.