Nuclear facilities
The Nuclear Engineering Program benefits from several advanced facilities that are used by the faculty and students in education and research. The unique facilities include: dedicated computer clusters operated by each research group, large computer clusters operated by the Advanced Computing Research (ARC) unit, a few thermal hydraulics loops, Center for Neutrino Physics, and the Visionarium, the US Naval Academy's nuclear facilities under a signed agreement between USNA and VT.
The Virginia Tech Transport Theory Group (VT3G) has a research cluster for performing large parallel particle transport calculations and multi-physics simulation of nuclear systems :
- 32 Total Processor Cores (Intel Xeon 2400Mhz)
- 256 GB System Memory (8GB/Core)
- 3 TB Storage
- Gigabit Network Backplane
Advanced Research Computing has several high-performance computing systems available to Virginia Tech researchers and collaborators. These include HokieOne (492 cores, 5.3 GB/core), Athena (1344 cores,2GB/core), and Ithaca (672 cores, 3 GB/core).
The VT Visionarium maintains various visualization devices with different degrees of immersion. The strongest sense of immersion is provided by the VisCube, which features three 10' by 10' walls and a floor of stereo projection screens and a wireless tracking system.
VT3G group is working with CNP on the development of the novel CHANDLER antineutrino detection system.
The CHANDLER detector technology is comprised of cubes of wavelength shifting plastic scintillator cubes and thin sheets of lithium-6 (6Li) loaded zinc sulfide (ZnS) scintillator. The 6 cm cubes are arraigned in layers of up to 20×20 cubes which are separated by the 6Li-loaded ZnS sheets. The cubes and sheets are well suited for detecting electron antineutrinos from nuclear reactors, which produce a positron and a neutron when they interact in the plastic cubes. The positron produces a prompt flash of light in the cube, while the neutron bounces around for a while before capturing on the 6Li in the sheet producing a delayed flash of light. The correlation between these two distinct events provides a clean indication of a neutrino interaction.
A high temperature forced circulation molten salt loop is available at Virginia Tech to study the effects of flow induced corrosion on materials in molten salts. The system has two functions: 1) to perform the flow Induced corrosion tests and 2) to conduct the electrochemical tests. The molten loop is designed for a high temperature application with design ratings of 730°C temperature and 25 to 30 gpm (at 10 ft. head) flow rate. Due to the low vapor pressure of the molten salt, the system will always be pressurized below 15 psi during operation. Loop components are still designed for a higher-pressure rating of 100 psi, to accommodate the pressure required when the salt solution is transferred from the storage tank to the auxiliary tank and vice-versa for draining and maintenance purposes.
This loop includes advanced conductivity probe, fast X-ray flow imaging system, and particle image velocimetry equipment.
Two specialized high-temperature for investigation of material performance in high temperature environments.
Under an agreement between the USNA and NSEL, faculty and students can use the USNA's nuclear facilities for conducting research.
This laboratory has been created in support of the MARS Center. Currently, it includes servers, computers, and large screens for the demonstration of VRS-RAPID code system and the JSI's TRIGA simulator. The lab is used by students and for presentation to visitors.