| The Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Health Physics (NE/RHP) at Oregon State University (OSU) has been developing an innovative modular reactor plant concept since being initiated with a Department of Energy (DoE) grant in 1999. This concept, the Multi-Application Small Light Water Reactor (MASLWR), is an integral pressurized water reactor (PWR) plant that utilizes natural circulation flow in the primary and employs advanced passive safety features. The OSU MASLWR test facility is an electrically heated integral effects facility, scaled from the MASLWR concept design, that has been previously used to assess the feasibility of the concept design safety approach. To assist in evaluating operational scenarios, a simulation tool that models the test facility and is based on both test facility experimental data and analytical methods has been developed. The tool models both the test facility electric core and a simulated nuclear core, allowing evaluation of a broad spectrum of operational scenarios to identify those scenarios that should be explored experimentally using the test facility or design-quality multi-physics tools. Using the simulation tool, the total cost of experimentation and analysis can be reduced by directing time and resources towards the operational scenarios of interest. |
