The input requirements for some of the specialist applications of the thermal reactor neutronics code WIMS can be demanding to set up. WIMS is both powerful and flexible enabling a wide range of thermal reactor calculations to be performed. For standard calculations, WIMS users can benefit from a simple user interface, provided for the user. This leaves the user with the much simpler task of specifying basic geometrical, material and operational data.
The provision of sensible defaults and the ability to select from pre-checked libraries of such data would further aid the WIMS user. WIMSBUILDER is a package designed to achieve these objectives and provide the user with a framework for easily setting up WIMS models and performing sequences of calculations.
The aim is for WIMSBUILDER to provide a menu of basic application options for the user to select from, for example PWR, BWR, VVER, dissolver. The first version contains options for single call PWR and VVER applications. Further development will be influenced by prospective users’ requirements to build up a wide-ranging repertoire of options.
An example application is the generation of few-group macroscopic cross section data for use in the Nuclear Electric reactor code PANTHER, for the analysis of a PWR reactor. For each distinct type of fuel element, WIMS is asked to perform say 30 burnup cycles through about a dozen code modules. In addition, at most of the cycles, cross section data are created for up to 20 variants of the standard operating conditions, e.g. temperature changes, coolant density changes, the decay of Xe135 due to a shut-down, or the insertion of control rods, making in all about 600 cycles of input to WIMS. This is an ideal application for a utility package such as WIMSBUILDER.
WIMSBUILDER is an interactive program that prompts the user to give the names of data files which will be used in the calculation (a proposed further development is to produce a Graphical User Interface (GUI) to wrap around the interactive program).
The user guide describes the use of WIMSBUILDER to create and running WIMS calculations using standard calculation routes and options. It is possible to perform a much wider range of non-standard calculations by making use of the full flexibility of the WIMSBUILDER package. Advice on how to do this can be found in the WIMSBUILDER Reference Guide.