Workshop on Criticality Safety Calculations (STU)

Workshop on Criticality Safety Calculations (STU)

Date:

27.11.2023 – 30.11.2023 (4 working days)

Venue:

Bratislava, Slovakia

Organiser:

Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava (STU), Slovakia, under the management of the European Nuclear Experimental Educational Platform (ENEEP) and in cooperation with the European Nuclear Educational Network (ENEN)

Language:

English

Purpose:

The key issue in any criticality safety problem is to estimate and predict the deviation of calculation from reality. If the calculated value is not equal to its true value, a bias occurs. The computational bias demonstrates how accurately the computational system is able to simulate reality in a sense of the used software, hardware, problem specification, and nuclear data. In the criticality safety calculations, the computational bias as an additional margin must be established through the validation of the applied methods to critical experiments.

The course is intended for those who are wishing to gain additional experience in criticality safety calculations and corresponding validation. The series of computational exercises are designed to provide an overview of all aspects of the process determining the computational bias. Through hands-on activities, the participants will become familiar with the concept of the International Handbook of Evaluated Criticality Safety Benchmark Experiments, the DICE database, Sensitivity and Uncertainty Analyses, the Similarity Assessment method, and Upper Subcritical Limit (USL). The main outcome of the course is to highlight fundamentals and inherent parts of the criticality calculations like sources of uncertainties or bias, involvement of researchers in computational processes, and industrial application.

Based on acquired knowledge, the participants will better understand the subcritical/criticality legislation and regulatory margins, the target design requirements of new-generation reactors, and the importance of validation in all types of computational analyses.

Participants’ qualifications:

The course is aimed at students in master’s degree programs and early Ph.D. studying nuclear engineering as the major curriculum. It is also suitable for students studying various major engineering curricula such as power engineering, mechanical engineering, and electrical engineering with future assignments in various nuclear curricula.

Course program:

  • Monday, 27.11.2023
    • Registration
    • Welcome, course opening, pre-test
    • Presentations, Visit to the facility
  • Tuesday, 28.11.2023
    • Computational exercise I - Building of the target core
    • Computational exercise II - Evaluation of sensitivity and Uncertainty calculation
  • Wednesday, 29.11.2023
    • Computational exercise III - Similarity assessment
    • Computational exercise IV - Determination of the bias and USL
  • Thursday, 30.11.2023
    • Teamwork and presentation of achieved results
    • Take-aways, Post-test, Collection of feedback

Course directors:

Štefan Čerba (STU)

Contact person:

Jakub Lüley (ENEEP)

Course fee, fellowship:

The course fee for participants from non-EU countries or non-eligible ENEN countries is 1,000 € without TAX. The course fee includes course materials, full access to all exercises, and online tutoring before and after the course. The course fee does not include accommodation, per diem, or transportation of the participants.

Participants from ENEN-eligible countries (please see the ENEN2plus mobility manual.) are encouraged to apply for the travel grant covering:

  • Course fee: 500 €
  • Travel lump sum: 500 €
  • Per diem: 366.67 €

The maximum number of granted participants is 10 and the minimum number of total participants to open a course is 8. In case the number of eligible applications exceeds the maximum number defined for the course, an extra course might be opened.

Application deadline:

15 Jul, 2023, 23.59 CET

Application Procedure:

To apply to the course, the applicant should fill in the ENEEP APPLICATION FORM and submit the following documents:

  • filled-in application form,
  • curriculum vitae,
  • motivation letter

The ENEEP evaluation committee will inform all applicants about the results of the application procedure by July 31, 2023, at 23.59 CET.

In the next step, the selected participants shall apply for the ENEN2plus MOBILITY GRANT, provided through the ENEN2plus project. The application for the grant should be in line with the conditions stated in the ENEN2plus mobility manual. After meeting the conditions of the mobility manual, the participants selected through the ENEEP application procedure will be automatically granted. The deadline for the ENEN2plus mobility grant is August 15, 2023, at 23.59 CET.