Calculations

We focus not only on reactor component calculations, but also calculations related to other operational units of nuclear power plants. The responsibility of the Calculations Department is to perform comprehensive, multidisciplinary calculation analyses. To successfully accomplish this goal, we develop calculation analyses in four main areas – strength and lifetime calculations, thermo-hydraulic calculations, radiation safety-related calculations, and last but not least, reactor physics calculations. These areas also correspond with the structure of the individual calculation departments at ŠKODA JS a.s. These departments actively communicate with one another and thus create a multidisciplinary, comprehensive insight into the problems they deal with.

Currently, the Calculations Department is significantly involved in the preparation of licensing documentation for the introduction of new types of nuclear fuel at Czech nuclear power plants operated by ČEZ, a.s. In order to be able to capture the issues of multi-physical phenomena that need to be evaluated in such analyses and to determine whether the operation of nuclear reactors with a given type of nuclear fuel will be within the safe margin of operating limits and conditions, it is necessary to actively develop sophisticated computational tools. These computational tools also need to be validated on real experimental data. And it is the development and maintenance of software tools that are actively used in computational analyses that is one of the key activities of the Calculations Department. The developed software tools are continuously validated and undergo an approval process with the State Nuclear Safety Authority. They are subsequently used by ŠKODA JS a.s. employees and are also supplied for use, for example, at the Dukovany NPP for the needs of colleagues from the departments responsible for the nuclear power plant’s fuel cycle. Thanks to our detailed knowledge of the inner structure of our SW products and the historical development, we are able to introduce new global knowledge of science and technology into current industrial practice.

However, the Calculations Department does not only use its own software, but also commercial codes, so that it is able to process a wide range of analyses and to respond to the current demand of our business partners, and at the same time to ensure constant computational support for other departments of all ŠKODA JS a.s.´ divisions.