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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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Deep Space: The new frontier of radiation controls
In commercial nuclear power, there has always been a deliberate tension between the regulator and the utility owner. The regulator fundamentally exists to protect the worker, and the utility, to make a profit. It is a win-win balance.
From the U.S. nuclear industry has emerged a brilliantly successful occupational nuclear safety record—largely the result of an ALARA (as low as reasonably achievable) process that has driven exposure rates down to what only a decade ago would have been considered unthinkable. In the U.S. nuclear industry, the system has accomplished an excellent, nearly seamless process that succeeds to the benefit of both employee and utility owner.
Bruno Merk (Univ of Liverpool), Dennis Allen (Amec Foster Wheeler), Mark Bankhead (NNL), Andy Bowen (Amec Foster Wheeler), Dave Bowman (Univ of Liverpool), Siman de Haas (Rolls-Royce Nuclear), Jefri Draup (EDF Energy), Lynn Dwyer (Univ of Liverpool), Matt Eaton (Imperial College London), Erwan Galenne (EDF-Energy), Chris Jackson (Rolls-Royce Nuclear), Chi Kin Lai, Andrew Levers (Univ of Liverpool), Ben Lindley (Amec Foster Wheeler), Dzianis Litskevich (Univ of Liverpool), Luke Mason (STFC), Geoff Parks (Univ of Cambridge), Edoardo Patelli, Eann Patterson (Univ of Liverpool), Aiden Peakman (NNL), Eugene Shwageraus (Univ of Cambridge), Andy Smethurst, Paul Smith (Amec Foster Wheeler), Adrian Toland (STFC), Konstantin Vikhorev (Univ of Liverpool)
Proceedings | 2018 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants (ICAPP 2018) | Charlotte, NC, April 8-11, 2018 | Pages 1085-1090
The UK Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has recently launched a national R&D programme with a work package on Digital Reactor Design. It consists of development of a Nuclear Virtual Engineering Capability within an integrated Modelling and Simulation Programme. A key challenge of nuclear reactor modelling and simulation is system complexity, which arises from a wide range of important multi-physics phenomena appearing across multiple length scales requiring a multi scale and multi methodological approach. In a final stage an integrated nuclear digital environment (INDE) is envisaged providing a link between modelling and simulation data and real world data across the whole nuclear lifecycle. For the demonstration of the capabilities ‘Challenge problems/Use cases’ will be defined to target future capability developments on the path to the future integrated nuclear digital environment (INDE). PWR and AGR simulation cases have already been specified. The AGR case considers the through-life structural performance of graphite bricks in a stepwise multi-scale, multi-physics approach to support reactor operations and lifetime extension. The PWR case is based on core multi-physics modelling of a control rod ejection accident. Additional use cases to demonstrate the advanced visualization tools of the virtual engineering centre are currently under development.