Parallel GPU implementation of PWR reactor burnup

•Three GPU algorithms used to evaluate the burn-up in a PWR reactor.•Exhibit speed improvement exceeding 200 times over the sequential.•The C++ container is expansible to accept new nuclides chains.

This paper surveys three methods, implemented for multi-core CPU and graphic processor unit (GPU), to evaluate the fuel burn-up in a pressurized light water nuclear reactor (PWR) using the solutions of a large system of coupled ordinary differential equations. The reactor physics simulation of a PWR reactor spends a long execution time with burnup calculations, so performance improvement using GPU can imply in better core design and thus extended fuel life cycle. The results of this study exhibit speed improvement exceeding 200 times over the sequential solver, within 1% accuracy.