Applications
IEA/IPJ Applications
- monitoring of national radiological hazards
- The problem of nuclear safety and radiation protection includes hazards resulting from both the possibility of a breakdown at nuclear installations and the possibility of terrorist acts involving radioactive substances (e.g. the so-called "dirty bombs"). The problem of safety is currently regarded as one of the key problems, which is also reflected in theEuropean Union's Seventh Framework Programme. There is a range of international initiatives aimed at integrating efforts towards a common safety policy. The greatest challenge in terms of modelling is currently to perform complicated 3D simulations by means of CFD codes to determine the flow between buildings, in street canyons, in the subway, in buildings etc. and to model transport and dispersion on this basis. Computing needs in this area are practically unlimited. The demand for such simulations is constantly increasing – together with increasing computing power and constant demand on the part of government agencies and institutions responsible for nuclear safety in Poland.
- monitoring of chemical hazards
- Analogically as in the radiological case, chemical safety includes hazards resulting from both the possibility of a breakdown at industrial installations or during transport and the possibility of terrorist acts involving toxic substances. Similarly, the greatest challenge is currently to perform complicated 3D simulations by means of CFD codes to determine the flow between buildings, in street canyons, in the subway, in buildings etc. and to model transport and dispersion on this basis. As mentioned above, any computing power can be used for this purpose. There is constant demand on the part of government agencies and institutions responsible for crisis management for performing such simulations.
The second element are air quality management systems. This is related with assisting authorities in analyses concerning the implementation of the primary document determining the requirements for assessment and management of air quality in countries of the European Union, which is Directive 96/62/EC (of 27 September 1996), the so-called framework directive and daughter directives or their projects concerning individual pollutants (or groups of pollutants), and in particular alerting the population to possible excessive levels of contamination in the air and drawing up action plans for those administrative units in which the levels have been exceeded as well as analyzing emission strategies for the purpose of binding legal regulations and international protocols. In this case as well, attempts are being made to use CFD codes to model air quality in urban agglomerations.
- Analogically as in the radiological case, chemical safety includes hazards resulting from both the possibility of a breakdown at industrial installations or during transport and the possibility of terrorist acts involving toxic substances. Similarly, the greatest challenge is currently to perform complicated 3D simulations by means of CFD codes to determine the flow between buildings, in street canyons, in the subway, in buildings etc. and to model transport and dispersion on this basis. As mentioned above, any computing power can be used for this purpose. There is constant demand on the part of government agencies and institutions responsible for crisis management for performing such simulations.
Design, configuration and operation of nuclear power plants in Poland
- In accordance with the decision of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Poland of 13 January 2009, a nuclear power engineering programme was launched in Poland. The investment will be implemented by a power industry tycoon – PGE Polska Grupa Energetyczna S.A. It is estimated that the first power plant will be built in 2020. The capital expenditure for a 1600 MW power plant will amount to around PLN 12-14 billion.
For the purposes of nuclear inspection and the owner of the power plant it will be necessary to conduct analyses testing the technical data of the nuclear power plant, with particular consideration of the static and dynamic characteristics of the reactor core and its behaviour during operational incidents. In all probability, due to the lack of possibility of configuring the nuclear power plant independently, the role of the Polish side will be limited to testing the technical solutions applied and adapting chosen elements to Polish conditions.
The operation of nuclear power plants needs to be adapted to the needs of the country and should take into consideration the current state of a reactor core of a nuclear power plant (resulting from the operation history), technical changes taking place during the operation (such as e.g. introducing fuel from different producer, of different geometry and enrichment), adaptation to the increasing demands of environmental protection (e.g. fuel from mixed uranium and plutonium oxides, thorium fuel, burning of transuranium elements and others).
Radiation and particle transport in matter for medical and dosimetric applications
- Calculations related to the implementation of "The development of specialized systems using accelerators and ionizing radiation detectors for medical therapy and detection of hazardous materials and toxic waste" project. It is predicted that the calculations will be performed using MCNP numerical code and will include:
- Calculations of X-ray spectra in RTG generators for different lamp targets (material, thickness, geometry) and parameters of the electron beam (accelerating voltage, geometry) leading to the optimization of the parameters of the target and the electron beam for the purpose of intraoperative radiation.
- Calculations of the spatial distribution of X-ray dose in a generator leading to the optimization of the construction of the RTG lamp target and the geometry of the electron beam for the purpose of the minimization of anisotropy of X-ray dose.
Optimization of energy distribution
- Energy distribution in a complex energy grid is an issue of paramount importance for national economy. The degree of its optimization has an influence on prices, reliability of supply and energy security of the country. An energy grid is a complex system with numerous degrees of freedom. Its complexity will continue to increase with the diversification of energy sources and the deregulation of operation in grids. Both those tendencies are currently promoted, both on the national and European level. CIŚ plans to carry out research and development activity in the field of discrete optimization tasks, with specific solutions for industry.
- CIŚ computing resources will constitute a base for a Technology Park which is to open in Świerk.
Open applications
- simulations and data analysis in high energy physics
- An essential part of the several departments of the Institute for Nuclear Studies participate in experiments in the LHC accelerator recently set in motion at CERN. The accelerator is characterised by an unprecedented amount of data to reconstruct and analyze – every experiment will record about 10 PB of data per year. Given such amount of data, every physical analysis will require huge amounts of computer time as well as the possibility to store large amounts of data and results. Several hundred groups from scientific institutions from all over the world will participate in the analysis. This will take place in an atmosphere of full collaboration and openness; nevertheless it is quite obvious that those groups which will commit themselves to performing the most interesting tasks and which will perform them quickly and efficiently will enjoy the greatest respect and, consequently, position in the collaboration. And even though everyone will be able to use distributed computer resources specially prepared for this purpose around the world, it is a well-known fact that, especially in the initial period, the work is most effective when the results can be obtained very quickly. This may only be ensured by a local set of relatively powerful computers with appropriate disk resources. Therefore, it is crucial to an essential branch of fundamental research in Poland to ensure the access to such a set – and on account of the range of collaborators, to the position of Polish science in the world in general. More specifically, the groups from IPJ closely collaborate with groups from the University of Warsaw and the Warsaw University of Technology. A total of several to several dozen simultaneous users from the field is predicted. The number as well as the resources necessary for those users may change and in general should increase at least to 2015.
- simulations and data analysis in nuclear physics
- Within the framework of the project, due to the required and necessary large computing capacity, it is possible to perform advanced simulations of beam optics for international accelerator projects as well as simulations and calculations of radiation shields, designs for bunkers etc. The potential recipients are accelerator centres around the world, hospitals, radiation sterilization centres.
- simulations and data analysis in astrophysics
- The use of telescopes monitoring large areas of the sky in search for transients during optical phenomena is becoming more widespread. One of such projects is the "Pi of the Sky" experiment conducted in IPJ. Its results are unique data sets, which will be made available for astronomical analyses. Moreover, experiments of this type form the basis of educational projects (such as the Hands On Universe - http://www.handsonuniverse.org). Another project which could greatly benefit from inserting the data from the "Pi of the Sky" experiment into the CIŚ infrastructure is the „Space Debris" project financed by ESA, the aim of which is to search for space debris.