Analyzing the safety margins in transients and accidents of nuclear reactors 3-dimensional models of the core were used to avoid conservative assumptions needed for point kinetics or 1-dimensional models. Therefore the 3D code DYN3D has been developed for the analysis of reactivity initiated accidents (RIA) in thermal nuclear reactors. The power distributions are calculated with the help of nodal expansion methods (NEM) for hexagonal and Cartesian geometry. The fuel rod model and the thermohydraulic part provide fuel temperatures, coolant temperatures and densities as well as boron concentrations for the calculation of feedback effects on the basis of cross section libraries generated by cell codes. DYN3D can analyze RIA initiated by moved control rods and/or perturbations of the coolant flow. Stationary and transient boundary conditions for the coolant flow, the core inlet temperatures and boron concentrations at the core inlet have to be given. For analyzing more complex transients the code DYN3D is coupled with the plant model ATHLET of the GRS. Exercises are presented of the extensive validation work for DYN3D. Some examples are shown of application of the code
