Ezequiel Goldberg

Alya4Fusion continues to evolve: new paper with multiphysics developments

BSC’s Fusion Group has published a new article in the Fusion Science and Technology journal, entitled “Application and coupling of NEUTRO, a deterministic neutron transport solver for fusion applications in the Alya multiphysics environment”.

This work represents a significant milestone in our mission to develop comprehensive simulation tools for fusion reactor analysis. The article presents new results obtained using NEUTRO, the neutronics module of Alya, a massively parallel finite element framework created at BSC. This development is carried out within the Alya4Fusion initiative and continues previous work, which can be found in our blog (here and here).

For the first time, we have successfully demonstrated the coupling of three physics modules within Alya in the context of nuclear fusion: NEUTRO for neutron transport, TEMPER for heat transfer, and NASTIN for fluid dynamics. This integrated approach enables us to simulate the complex interplay between neutron radiation, heat deposition, and coolant circulation in fusion reactor components within a single computational framework.

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BSC’s Alya4Fusion at the Fusion Neutronics Meeting 2025

Group photo of all the Fusion Neutronics Meeting 2025 participants on the doorsteps of the “Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Industriales” at UNED campus. Credits: UNED.

From April 7th through 10th, Fusion Group Researcher Ezequiel Goldberg participated in the Fusion Neutronics Meeting 2025: ITER and beyond, organised this year by the “Tecnologías de Fisión, Fusión y Fuentes de Irradiación” group (TECFIR) from UNED with the support of ITER and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). The meeting venue was the Facultad de Educación building at the UNED campus in Madrid, Spain, and the event gathered experts from around the world to discuss recent advances and future directions in fusion neutronics.

On the event’s third day, Ezequiel presented the work “Neutron flux in IFMIF-DONES operation room: a comparison between Monte Carlo and deterministic codes.” The presentation focused on recent advancements in NEUTRO, the neutronics module of Alya, developed as part of the Alya4Fusion initiative. NEUTRO simulates neutron flux distribution and the resulting interactions with reactor materials, key to improving the accuracy and safety of fusion reactor designs.

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ITER organises its 15th Neutronics Workshop in Cadarache

Source: ITER.

From April 8th through 10th (2024) the ITER Organization gathered researchers, industry partners and all members of the international neutronics community in Cadarache, where the fusion reactor homonymous to the organisation is undergoing construction, to host the 15th Neutronics Meeting and Fusion Neutronics Workshop. Aiming to discuss recent advancements, issues and successes in the neutronics field, the meeting covered several topics including ITER neutronics, safety issues, computational tools and nuclear data relevant to nuclear fusion, shielding materials, damage, heating, waste production and management and neutron sources, among others.

Ezequiel Goldberg, member of the Fusion Group, attended the meeting where researchers made presentations from both public and private institutions from Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Finland, Slovenia, the UK, the US, Russia, India, Korea, Japan, China, and international organisations such as the ITER Organization and the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency).

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TITANS Project hosts the Third Tritium School for the nuclear research community

Third Tritium School flyer. Source: TITANS Project.

Group Member Ezequiel Goldberg attended the Third Tritium School, organized from 18 to 22 of March in hybrid format by the TITANS Project (Tritium Impact and Transfer in Advanced Nuclear reactorS). The project combines the expertise of international experts from material sciences, process engineering, biology, environmental sciences and modelling into a transdisciplinary project concentrating on the management of nuclear facilities, focusing particularly on tritium management. TITANS contributes to mitigating nuclear environmental impact, as well as facilitating the growing nuclear energy demand as Europe, and our world, transition to low-carbon energy sources.

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DEMO Prospective R&D Workshop looks ahead to opportunities and challenges in fusion industrialization

Source: EUROfusion

In early October, group members Ezequiel Goldberg and Adriana Ghiozzi attended the second biannual DEMO Prospective Research and Development Workshop hosted by EPFL and organized by EUROfusion.

DEMO, or the DEMOnstration fusion power plant, refers to fusion devices to be developed post-ITER which, unlike ITER, will be connected to the electric grid and demonstrate net power production in a closed fuel cycle. Broadly, the goal of the workshop was to identify and discuss the current technical, engineering, and economic gaps between a DEMO device and a future fleet of fully-industrialized electricity-producing fusion devices.

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Evolution and validation of neutron simulations with NEUTRO – Article in Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion

Building on the work described in our previous posts (please see links below), we have continued developing NEUTRO, the neutronics module in Alya. The latest advancements are portrayed in the article entitled “Validating NEUTRO, a deterministic finite element neutron transport solver for fusion applications, with literature tests, experimental benchmarks and other neutronic codes” that has been recently published in Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion (PPCF).

Neutron damage to fusion reactor materials and tritium self-sufficiency are two significant challenges that need to be solved for fusion to be a viable energy source integrated with the electricity grid. The development of future fusion reactors requires a thorough understanding and the ability to predict these processes, which in turn means highly demanding simulations need to be performed to assist in the analysis of the consequences of neutrons interacting with the vast array of reactor components.

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