Summary of SWINTH-2016 : a Specialists Workshop on advanced instrumentation and measurement techniques for nuclear reactor thermal-hydraulic experimentation

A “Specialists Workshop on Advanced Instrumentation and Measurement Techniques for Nuclear Reactor Thermal-Hydraulics (SWINTH)” was held in Italy on June 2016, promoted and organized by SILENCE, the “Significant Light and Heavy Water Reactor Thermal Hydraulic Experiments Network for the Consistent Exploitation of the Data”. The workshop covered the technology of experimentation in nuclear thermal-hydraulics, including both separate effect and integral test facilities, with coarse as well as CFD-grade measurements (although most contributions were actually devoted to the latter type), and not limited to light water-cooled reactor technology. The last international workshop with the same scope was an OECD/NEA/CSNI meeting held in Santa Barbara, CA, in 1997. The main objectives of the workshop were to gain an up-to-date picture of the current trends in experimental programs and in technological advancement as to reactor thermal-hydraulics, to promote the technical-scientific exchange between experimentalists and scientists operating on the code development and validation side, and to help identify the existing gaps between the code validation needs and the available technology. The response of the international community to this initiative was very positive and brought valuable contribution to meeting the above-mentioned objectives through generally high-quality papers and presentations, many of which focusing on innovative solutions and state-of-the-art applications. The present paper provides an overview of the contents of the workshop papers and tries to identify lessons learned and recommendations. In addition, questionnaires “to identify measurement needs and main gaps for further system code and CFD code development and validation” had been distributed prior to the workshop among a number of people active in this area, and the preliminary outcomes of the survey were presented at the workshop. This paper also gives an account of such outcomes. Any feedback to this paper will be taken into account for the organization of the future SWINTH workshops being planned, possibly within an OECD/NEA framework and with a scope extended to in-plant instrumentation (e.g. for Severe Accident Management).