The Development of an Agile Analysis Method to Support the Conceptual Design of the Rolls-Royce Small Modular Reactor

Abstract

An element of the work undertaken within the nuclear division at Rolls-Royce is the determination of the performance of nuclear reactor plants through the application of thermal hydraulic analysis methods.  These methods are used throughout the product introduction; beginning with exploring the performance potential of design options and ultimately providing analysis to support the safety justification.To provide performance analysis at the earliest stages of design it is imperative to have a flexible analysis method that evolves alongside the design process while being able to inform the system architects for each iteration.  To achieve this goal an analysis method has been developed that allows for varying plant configurations with adjustable plant component geometries based on a selection at analysis runtime.  To aid this the whole plant model has been broken down into subsystems which represent specific components in the reactor plant. The process of updating each of the plant component subsystem models has been automated and linked with an overarching database that allows system designers to directly update geometrical parameters.