top of page

WIMS - A General Purpose Reactor Physics Program for Core Physics Calculations

WIMS provides a wide varietyof easy-to-use methods (both deterministic and Monte Carlo) coupled with modern nuclear data and can be used for both benchmark and design type calculations in two and three dimensions.

The Software

 

WIMS can provide modelling capabilities ranging from a simple pin cell calculation of reactivity to whole core estimates of power and flux distributions.

 

All fast and thermal reactor types, including research reactors, can be analysed. The user can benefit from the flexibility of predefined calculation routes or customised methods of solution using diffusion theory, discrete-ordinates, collision probability, characteristics or Monte Carlo methods.

​

Due to its open modular structure, WIMS can be used in a wide variety of modes. This range of options and the capability to build different calculation routes within one code system mean that almost all types of reactor core calculation can be specified within WIMS.

 

WIMS has an easy to use input syntax and is backed up by a comprehensive range of introductory and reference documentation, including an easy to follow User Guide including numerous worked examples.

image001 (11).png

What can WIMS be used for?

​

WIMS has been successfully used in support of the design and operation of a wide range of nuclear reactors.   Selected examples include:

  • UOX, MOX, metal and special fuel assemblies

  • Pin, pellet, plate and pebble geometry options

  • Lattice cell calculations with pins on a square or triangular pitch and for cluster geometry with pins on concentric rings

  • Whole core calculations for water and gascooled systems

  • Fuel depletion analysis using both deterministic and Monte Carlo methods

  • Design and analysis studies for novel and Advanced Generation IV reactor systems

  • Optimisation of fuel loading and reloading

  • Temperature co-efficient calculations

  • Poison worth calculations

  • Gamma heating studies

  • Fine structure effects due to local absorbers and end-gaps

  • Generation of neutronics data for use in PANTHER whole-core analysis for steadystate and transient conditions

  • Experimental comparisons

  • Internal benchmarking by comparing deterministic and Monte Carlo options

  • Criticality searches and surveys, for example to optimise fuel pool storage

  • Analyses of PWR UOX and MOX core fuel loadings

What hardware is WIMS available on?

​

WIMS is available for both Windows and Linux

System Requirements

The system requirements for ANSWERS software products are as follows:

  • Windows 10 (64-bit) or Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7+ or similar (64-bit)

  • 2GHz+ Multi-core Processor

  • 16GB+ RAM (64GB recommended for larger models, 128GB recommended for whole core models)

  • Up to 20GB free Hard Disk space per code (depending on nuclear data libraries chosen)

  • DVD Drive

  • Integrated or discrete graphics card for best performance of some parts of Visual Workshop

  • Compatible OpenMPI installation for parallel Linux versions of MONK and WIMS2

 

Notes

  1. Codes are currently tested on RHEL/CentOS 6&7, OpenSUSE 15.x and Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. For details of the OS versions used to test a particular code release, see the relevant code release note or contact the hotline

  2. For compatible version(s) of OpenMPI for a particular code release, see the relevant code release note or contact the hotline

bottom of page