Summary Report of the FY24 DOE Contributions to the GIF VHTR CMVB - 2024
In September 2024, the Idaho National Laboratory published their contributions to the GIF Very-High-Temperature Reactor Computational Methods Validation and Benchmark Project on behalf of the US Department of Energy for the FY24.
The review publication has been made available as part of the INL Advanced Reactor Technologies (ART) program, available at the following:
For Fiscal Year 2024, the DOE CMVB has committed to several critical activities. Under work package 1, led by the United States, the integration of the High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactor- Pebble-Bed Module (HTR-PM) Phenomena Identification and Ranking Table (PIRT) into the comparative PIRT is progressing, with a new draft of the comparison tables issued earlier this year and currently being utilized by INET for their contribution. Neutronic validation efforts under work package 3 include the preparation of the burnup analysis benchmark, preliminary calculations, and the development of reference models and results. In work package 2, a validation exercise for hot gas mixing in the lower plenum of HTR-PM is in progress, using experimental data from INET to validate modeling approaches. A model of the experimental facility has been developed using StarCCM+, with initial calculations slated for presentation at the GIF CMVB meeting this fall. Another work package 2 activity focuses on validating numerical models for air-cooled Reactor Cavity Cooling System (RCCS) with experimental data from the Wisconsin Madison RCCS facility. A high-fidelity model, developed using NekRS, is currently being validated with available data from a low-power forced-convection test. These efforts are aimed at enhancing and confirming the accuracy of HTGR analysis tools, ensuring their alignment with experimental data and regulatory requirements.