OpenPronghorn: Advanced Nuclear Reactor Simulation and Design Optimization

Overview

Modern nuclear reactor development demands tools that balance scientific rigor with transparency and flexibility. OpenPronghorn delivers exactly that, a fully open-source, high-fidelity thermal-hydraulics simulation tool designed to model and predict fluid behavior in advanced nuclear reactors.

Built on the Multiphysics Object-Oriented Simulation Environment (MOOSE), OpenPronghorn solves the **Navier Stokes equations** to capture mass, momentum, and energy conservation in fluid flows. It supports single and multiphase flow conditions, laminar and turbulent regimes, and a range of turbulence models such as k-epsilon, v2f, and mixing length. By combining computational efficiency with physical accuracy, OpenPronghorn provides a flexible foundation for both component-level and system-level analyses.

The tool enables engineers, regulators, and researchers to perform reliable simulations for design, safety, and performance assessments, all while maintaining full transparency through the use of non-proprietary, open-source data and correlations.

Core Capabilities and Advantages

• High-Fidelity Fluid Dynamics:  Models complex flow regimes and heat transfer phenomena across single-phase and multiphase conditions using validated open-source correlations.
• Modular Multiscale Simulation: Supports both detailed RANS-level modeling and simplified system-level representations for reactor components and full circuits.
• Open-Source Transparency:  Employs only publicly available physical correlations and data, ideal for regulatory review, academic research, and collaborative development.
• MOOSE Integration: Seamlessly couples with other MOOSE-based tools through the MultiApp system, enabling co-simulation and data exchange across physics domains.
• Built-In Validation and Extensibility: Includes reference test cases from scientific literature and allows user-defined model extensions through MOOSE’s FunctorMaterial  system.
• Computational Efficiency: Uses the SIMPLE projection method and supports high-performance computing environments for large-scale simulations.

Integration and Research Impact

OpenPronghorn is designed as a cornerstone for the next generation of nuclear system analysis. Its ability to handle multiscale simulations, from microscale heat transfer to full-plant dynamics, makes it a powerful tool for design optimization, licensing support, and safety validation.

By enabling users to perform open, verifiable simulations, OpenPronghorn bridges the gap between academic research, regulatory needs, and industrial design, accelerating innovation in nuclear energy while maintaining transparency and scientific rigor.

Whether improving reactor efficiency, validating safety systems, or teaching the next generation of engineers, OpenPronghorn provides a reliable, extensible platform for nuclear simulation.

Access

OpenPronghorn is available as open-source software and can be accessed through its GitHub repository for download, contribution, and community collaboration.