High-Performance Advanced Methods and Experimental Investigations for the Safety Evaluation of Generic Small Modular Reactors

The main objective of the McSAFER project is the advancement of the safety research for Small Modular Reactors (SMR) by combining dedicated experimental investigations and numerical simulations. Experiments will be performed on existing European thermal hydraulic test facilities to investigate SMR-specific safety-relevant phenomena (subcooled boiling, critical heat flux). The main objective of the McSAFER project is the advancement of the safety research for Small Modular Reactors (SMR) by combining dedicated experimental investigations and numerical simulations. Experiments will be performed on existing European thermal hydraulic test facilities to investigate SMR-specific safety-relevant phenomena (subcooled boiling, critical heat flux, transition from forced to natural circulation) with the goal providing corresponding data on code validation. Advanced computational tools developed and partly validated in the European projects NURESAFE, HPMC and McSAFE, will be used to conduct the neutron physical, thermal hydraulic and thermo-mechanic analysis of the reactor core of different SMR design. In the next step, multidimensional and multiscale methods will be applied to the analysis of the processes inside the reactor pressure vessel. Finally, different numerical tools (conventional, low order and high fidelity) will be applied to demonstrate the inherent safety features of an SMR-core as well as how the SMR-designs under investigation assure the safety function of core sub-criticality and core coolability under postulated design-basis-accident-conditions. The project is a planned as a research and innovation action. Despite the concentration on SMR, the methodology is fully transferable to LWR of Gen-II and -III as well as to Gen-IV reactors due to the versatility of the involved codes. Last but not least, the envisaged project fosters the dissemination of knowledge from experienced researchers to young engineers, scientists as well as master and doctoral students.