Anticipating future needs of our customers and willing to concentrate synergies and competences existing in the company for the benefit our customers, AREVA NP decided in 2002 developing the next generation of coupled neutronics/ core thermal-hydraulic (TH) code systems for fuel assembly and core design calculations for both, PWR and BWR applications. The global CONVERGENCE project was born: after a feasibility study of one year (2002) and a conceptual phase of another year (2003), development was started at the beginning of 2004.
The present paper introduces the CONVERGENCE project (objectives, major milestones, progress status…), presents the main feature of the new code system ARCADIA and concludes on customer benefits.
ARCADIA encloses the sub-systems (1) spectral code, (2) core simulator and (3) peripheral services.
The spectral code system (called APOLLO2-A) is developed in close cooperation with the French Nuclear Research Center, Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique (CEA). It is a further development of the CEA code APOLLO2. The newest nuclear data library JEFF3 is used. An impressive qualification work covering a large range of LWR applications is being carried out.
The core simulator ARTEMIS represents an advanced 3D coupled neutronics/ thermal-hydraulics/thermal-mechanics code system for stationary and transient core design with new software architecture allowing for nodal and pin-by-pin calculation capability. ARTEMIS includes among others high performance multi group diffusion and transport flux solver. ARTEMIS is designed for PWR and BWR applications.
Peripheral services system covers input generation and pre-processing as well as output evaluation and post-processing. It includes graphical user interfaces, job automation and all kind of post-processing tools needed within fuel assembly and core design, e.g. statistical evaluation, graphics, automated report generation tools.
The new code system, named ARCADIA, is designed to meet our AREVA NP market and customers’ requirements worldwide.
Besides state-of-the-art physical modeling, numerical performance and industrial functionality, the ARCADIA system is featuring state-of-the-art software engineering. A decisive achievement in this regard is the implementation of a model driven, iterative development methodology and supporting tools for software design and code generation.
The new code system will bring a series of benefits for our customers: e.g. improved accuracy for heterogeneous cores (MOX/UOX, Gd...), better description of nuclide chain, and access to local neutronics/thermal-hydraulics, and possibly thermal-mechanical information (3D pin by pin full core modeling).