Program

Organizers: D. Cancila and E. Adam, CEA

This seminar brings together leading experts from the nuclear industrial sector, international organizations and researcher centers.

Through a series of invited talks and round tables, the attendees will explore the latest trends, innovative applications, and the regulatory landscape governing AI integration in nuclear technology.

Organizer: Prof. A. Haghighat, Virginia Tech

RAPID (Real-time Analysis for Particle-transport In-situ Detection) is developed based on the MRT (Multi-stage Response-function particle Transport) methodology that enables its real-time simulation capability. The current version of RAPID is capable of simulating nuclear systems such as spent fuel pools, spent fuel casks, and reactor cores. RAPID solves for pin-wise, axially-dependent fission density, critical/subcritical multiplication, and detector response. Novel algorithms for 3-D fuel burnup (bRAPID) calculation and 3-D reactor kinetics (tRAPID) have been developed and benchmarked for test problems. These algorithms are experimentally validated using the Jozef Stefan Institute’s TRIGA research reactor. Further, a multi-user virtual reality system (VRS) has been developed that provides a web application for input preparation, real-time simulation, and output processing and visualization in a virtual environment.

The current version of VRS-RAPID is optimized for a Personal Computer using the Google Chrome browser, but it can be accessed through iPad, Tablet, etc. using any other browser.

Organizer: Dr. A. Cooper, Silver Fir Software, Inc.

This workshop focuses on the application of Attila4MC® for setting up, running, and visualizing MCNP® (Version 6) calculations directly from CAD. The new Attila4MC Version 10.3 workflow enables users to directly import complex CAD assemblies with hundreds, or thousands of parts and numerous part interferences, without requiring significant CAD cleanup or simplification. The new Attila4MC Cottonwood variance reduction module will also be demonstrated, which provides automated CADIS and FW-CADIS variance reduction for complex CAD based models. Cottonwood employs an adaptive deterministic approach that automatically refines and coarsens based on the material attenuation gradients, resulting in efficient weight windows with minimal user effort and calculation time. Attendees who wish to participate in the hands-on section of the workshop will be able to install Attila4MC on their laptops. MCNP will not be provided, and users who wish to run MCNP (not required) must have it installed on their laptop prior to the workshop. Attila4MC® is compatible with MCNP versions 6.2 and 6.3.

Organizer: Dr. P. Romano, Argonne National Laboratory

OpenMC is a general-purpose Monte Carlo neutron and photon transport simulation code. It is capable of simulating 3D models based on constructive solid geometry as well as CAD-based geometries using the DAGMC library. It also has built-in capabilities for activation/depletion to track material evolution with time. OpenMC was originally developed by members of the Computational Reactor Physics Group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology starting in 2011 with a specific focus on high performance computing and has now evolved into a community developed code with contributions from many institutions.

This workshop will present a brief overview of the code and its growing list of features, and a walk-through on how to setup input files using the Python API using nuclear reactor examples. The workshop will also demonstrate how to leverage powerful Python packages for post-processing of results. Participants should bring their laptop to follow along and run OpenMC. A link will be provided to access the software on a cloud computing platform.

Organizer: G. Daniel, CEA

The recent and widespread emergence of numerous tools labelled as ‘Artificial Intelligence’ makes difficult to capture and understand all of the associated notions. Among the large domain covered by the AI, one of the most famous areas is Machine Learning. These techniques are mainly based on using data to infer models, with the aim of making predictions that we hope will be reliable. Like any other field, Machine Learning comes with its own vocabulary, techniques and expertise. All of the related concepts can quickly lead to confusion without the corresponding basic background.

The aim of this seminar is to provide the necessary basic understanding of these concepts. The objective is to clarify the notions associated with Machine Learning, to understand which classes of problem can be tackled using these tools, while at the same time familiarizing ourselves with the vocabulary. We will introduce the mathematical formalism associated with statistical learning methods and the main models used. Finally, we will attempt to answer any questions you may have on the subject. This seminar aims at giving the tools to understand presentations, papers and studies that integrate Machine Learning tools in their developments, and at being able to assess their relevance in applicative fields.

Organizer: Dr. Alfredo Ferrari, KIT

The FLUKA Monte Carlo Radiation Transport and Interaction code package (www.fluka.org) is widely used to simulate the interaction of particles with matter in a variety of fields, including Medical physics, in particular hadron therapy; Cosmic ray physics; Space radiation; Detector simulations; Dosimetry and radiation protection; Shielding; Neutronics (excluding reactors); Particle accelerator design; Activation and residual dose rates; Neutrino physics; Radiation damage.

Among the unique features of FLUKA are its wide energy range, from thermal neutrons up to 100 EeV, the ability to transport and interact practically any electromagnetic, hadronic or (anti)neutrino particle, including ions, and the runtime evaluation and evolution of radioactive inventories and associated dose rates. FLUKA is used by thousands of users worldwide and is the tool for radiation protection studies in most high energy laboratories.

This mini-workshop will consist of a short introduction to FLUKA and its capabilities, focusing on the features that make FLUKA unique. This will be followed by an online demonstration of the code download, installation and capabilities of its graphical user interface. Some practical examples of the use of FLUKA in different fields will then be created and run interactively. The choice of topics will be finalized taking into account the profiles and wishes of the registered participants.

Participants do not need to have any specific knowledge of programming languages and/or operating systems. If they have a laptop running Linux (also in a Docker or Windows Wsl environment) or macOS that meets the basic requirements listed on https://www.fluka.org/fluka.php?id=secured_intro, they can optionally download FLUKA from www.fluka.org in advance and follow the interactive examples to explore and run them on their own computer.