The Rand D roadmap for Gen-2,3 et IV neutronics studies in the future ZEPHYR ZPR in Cadarache
Abstract
The experimental programs performed in EOLE and MINERVE ZPR for the last 40 years were very fruitful for the LWR physical phenomena understanding, but today these facilities are nearly fifty years old and badly want to be refurbished in order to comply with the safety criteria against earthquake and to meet the post-Fukushima requirements. Instead of renewing these facilities, CEA and its partners started the project of a new facility in Cadarache, called ZEPHYR, designed for offering at least, the same level of services as EOLE and MINERVE for the LWR codes experimental validation. The ZEPHYR project, so called both for Zero power Experimental PHYsics Reactor acronym and its mythological EOLE's parentage is intended to give birth to a central RandD tool dedicated to reactor physics research (nuclear data, code validation in fundamental, mock-up and degraded/accidental configurations) open to the international community and Academia, whose functionalities and versatility will make it unique in the world.The paper will detail the complete RandD roadmap on neutronics from 2015 to 2020, with preliminary results on coupled core capabilities, as well as the modelling of severe accidents situations.