Access to NEA-DATA-BANK

The TRIPOLI-4v8.1 Monte Carlo software package supplied by OECD’s Nuclear Energy Agency has been just installed in NCBJ. The Świerk-based Institute is the first institution in Poland granted access to those internationally recognized software tools and experimental data acquired all over the world (including USA and Japan) necessary to verify computational results. Access to the data will help Świerk researchers to more competently evaluate safety of nuclear facilities, including nuclear power reactors.

„The internationally recognized Tripoli-4v8.1 software code can be used to calculate radiation inside reactor cores based on neutron fluxes” – explains Eng. Janusz Malesa. MSc, from NCBJ Nuclear Energy Division, who became NEA-DATA-BANK liaison officer. – „So-far used software was able only to give rough estimates of gamma photon beams produced in beryllium moderators. Tripoli-4v8.1 will be used jointly by French CEA / NCBJ collaboration within the framework of the GAMMA MAJOR project. One of the goals is to verify how correct are calculations of heat dissipated inside moderator of the Jules Horowitz reactor in Cadarache (France)”.

Poland has been OECD’s Nuclear Energy Agency member since 2010. Agreement signed on November 24, 2014 by Polish Ministry of Economy and NEA-DATA-BANK gave us access to about 2,000 documented software packages and databases. NEA-DATA-BANK is also a forum on which specialized information and experience on various nuclear power-related topics are exchanged.

The NEA-DATA-BANK databases facilitate:

• modelling of nuclear facilities/calculations of reaction cross-sections
• analyses of nuclear reactor stationary states
• nuclear fuel management
• economic aspects related to operation of nuclear reactors
• coupled neutron/heat-flow kinetics studies/analyses
• evaluation of radiation protection safety
• nuclear accident analyses
• analyses of heat exchange in stationary/transient states, hydrodynamics analyses, thermodynamics analyses
• material strength analyses, calculations of stress distributions
• analyses of gamma-heating and design of radiation shields
• other applications of general computational methods/algorithms
• analyses of nuclear facility impact on the environment, nuclear waste management
• studies of irradiation-induced change of material properties.

„However, capability to verify computed results with experimental data stored in the databases is the single most-important benefit from the access. Correctness of results produced by software tools may be verified only in confrontation with experimental data. This is a crucial aspect in every safety analysis of any nuclear facility, including any nuclear reactor.” – said Tomasz Jackowski, Head of NCBJ Nuclear Energy Division – „Therefore access to the data is of paramount importance from the point of view of successful accomplishment of the nuclear power programme in Poland. We have acquired competences to reliably model nuclear facilities and to develop tools capable to evaluate their safety. In short we are now well equipped to work out a comprehensive safety report for future Polish nuclear power plants”.

Świerk researchers are among the very few teams in Poland equipped with unique competences indispensable to reliably analyse safety of nuclear facilities and radiation protection systems implemented within the facilities. Numerous activities undertaken since NCBJ birth in September 2011 have resulted in rejuvenation of our research staff, renewal of our research base, and modernization of our technical infrastructure. Availability of European Union funds and intense collaboration with MAEA, NEA, Euratom, SNETP, French CEA, and manufacturers of nuclear reactors came to fruition as availability of some young-people-dominated task forces directed by some highly experienced experts.

TRIPOLI-4v8.1 is a registered trademark of the French CEA (Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives)