FONESYS and SILENCE Networks: Looking to the Future of T-H Code Development and Experimentation

The purpose of this paper is to present briefly the projects called FONESYS (Forum & Network of System Thermal-Hydraulics Codes in Nuclear Reactor Thermal-Hydraulics) and SILENCE (Significant Light and Heavy Water Reactor Thermal Hydraulic Experiments Network for the Consistent Exploitation of the Data), their participants, their motivations, their main targets and working modalities. System Thermal-Hydraulics (SYS-TH) codes, also as part of the Best Estimate Plus Uncertainty (BEPU) approaches, are expected to achieve a more-and-more relevant role in nuclear reactor safety and design technology. Namely, the number of code-users is likely to increase in the countries where nuclear technology is exploited. Thus, the idea of establishing a forum and a network among the code developers and with possible extension to code users has started to have major importance and value. In this framework, the FONESYS initiative has been launched in 2010 aiming at creation of a common ground for discussing current limitations and envisaged improvements in various areas of SYS-TH and their application in the licensing process and safety analysis. According to FONESYS statute, there are seven signatory Institutions and two observer Institutions currently participating in the project. Signatory Institutions are AREVA-NP, Commissariat à l’Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives (CEA), San Piero a Grado Nuclear Research Group - University of Pisa (GRNSPG-UNIPI), Gesellschaft für Anlagenund Reaktorsicherheit (GRS), Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI), Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety (KINS), and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. SILENCE is a network that intends to promote the cooperation among teams of experimentalists managing or involved in significant experimental projects in nuclear reactor thermal-hydraulics, with the aim to contrast the risk of losing expertise and vision in this important area of the nuclear technology. This network was launched in 2012, replicating for the TH experimental domain the role that FONESYS plays in the code-development domain. Currently, the following Organizations are Members of SILENCE: AREVA GmbH, Helmholtz Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI), Hungarian Academy of Sciences Centre for Energy Research (MTA EK),Lappeenranta University of Technology (LUT), and Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI). SILENCE is currently organizing a “Specialists Workshop on Advanced Instrumentation and Measurement Techniques for Nuclear Reactor Thermal Hydraulics” (SWINTH-2016). The San Piero a Grado Nuclear Research Group - University of Pisa (GRNSPG-UNIPI) is the Host Institution and plays as a Scientific Secretariat for both Networks.