Modeling the energy systems of tomorrow.
ORNL's Energy Systems Integration and Modeling Group (ESIM) group is guided by a future in which nuclear energy seamlessly complements renewable resources, industrial processes, and storage technologies.
As the foundation of a secure, affordable and reliable power grid, nuclear energy provides nearly 20 percent of the nation’s electricity. However, to fully leverage nuclear’ s strengths, it must be efficiently coupled with other energy sources as well as storage systems industrial applications to explore synergies, avoid inefficiencies, and eliminate vulnerabilities in the grid.
The Energy Systems Integration and Modeling Group (ESIM) addresses a key challenge: Ensuring a reliable power supply while seamlessly integrating nuclear energy with the wider energy landscape through system and component level research.
Advanced simulation for next-generation energy systems
ESIM uses advanced computational modeling and detailed physics-based simulations to arrive at fundamental insights into the function of individual components and to determine how they can best be coupled with nuclear energy systems.
The group strives to determine how an integrated energy system can effectively function, incorporating everything from individual components to grid-wide energy flows and enabling precise evaluation of how nuclear systems interact with the broader energy landscape.
The team’s wide-ranging expertise—including computational physics alongside chemical, mechanical, and nuclear engineering—informs their research in accurately simulating complex phenomena, including:
- Combustion dynamics
- Electrochemical processes
- Chemical reactors and industrial processes
- Additive manufacturing processes
- Radiation detection methods
- Molten salt thermodynamics, and more
These simulations offer critical insights into the joint operation of advanced reactors, nuclear hybrid systems, next-generation fuels, and integration with carbon-capture units and electrochemical systems.
Collaboration at every level
ESIM is actively collaborating with industry partners, lending their computational modeling expertise to translate fundamental scientific knowledge into real-world performance improvements.
Current and past projects include:
- Working alongside Capture6 to develop a venturi-scrubber—a specialized device often used to capture pollutants from air exhaust systems—for carbon capture applications
- Development of models for near isothermal compression in partnership with EIC
- Optimization of secondary lead smelting with Gopher Resource
- Working with Spar Energy to develop a waste heat recovery system for data centers
- Improvement of aluminum yield through electrochemical cell modeling with Alcoa
- Modeling and simulation of directed energy deposition modeling processes in a joint effort with the Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing
- Supporting the automotive industry through detailed combustion simulations and optimization, among other collaborations
Recent advances in energy integration
CaptureFOAM
An open-source tool that allows users to model gas-liquid mass transfer in chemically reacting systems with complex geometries. The code is highly adaptive, and can be used to model carbon capture contactors, tritium removal in fusion reactor blankets, off-gassing separation in molten salt reactors, and acid gas removal in natural gas and coal powerplants, among other applications.
Molten Salt Reactor Safety Modeling
Publication introducing a set of tools capable of accurately predicting the behavior of fission products such as iodine in molten salt reactors. This work is crucial for understanding and managing volatile fission products, and for confirming the inherent safety features of these advanced reactors.
Improved Modeling for TRISO Fuel Production
A publication offering advanced computational modeling of the complex process used to manufacture TRISO nuclear fuel particles. This model will reduce dependence on expensive, trial-and-error experimental methods, allowing rapid optimization and scale-up of high-performance nuclear fuels for next-generation reactors and microreactor systems.
Toward a unified energy landscape.
The ESIM group is guided by a future in which nuclear energy seamlessly complements renewable resources, industrial processes, and storage technologies. The group is leveraging its detailed modeling and strategic collaborations to support an integrated energy grid that offers more security, reliability, and abundance than any option could alone. These state-of-the-art modeling and design methods will seamlessly connect nuclear energy with complementary resources, guiding decision-makers toward solutions that are safe, flexible, and economically sound.