Optimized modular nuclear reactor project utilizing artificial intelligence: Seed-blanket concept

Abstract

This article proposes a Light Water Small Modular Reactor (LW-SMR) based on the seed-blanket concept with thorium fuel, utilizing Artificial Intelligence (AI) for optimization. The objectives include defining SMR parameters and developing parallel multi-objective AI models using Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Particle Swarm Optimization PSO. A GA has been developed and applied to a simplified fuel assembly, while a PSO algorithm has been used together with the SERPENT code to perform precise calculations for SMR simulation. The results obtained demonstrated a great improvement when compared to classical parametric studies, demonstrating the possibility of designing a fuel assembly using artificial intelligence.