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Isotopes & Radiation
Members are devoted to applying nuclear science and engineering technologies involving isotopes, radiation applications, and associated equipment in scientific research, development, and industrial processes. Their interests lie primarily in education, industrial uses, biology, medicine, and health physics. Division committees include Analytical Applications of Isotopes and Radiation, Biology and Medicine, Radiation Applications, Radiation Sources and Detection, and Thermal Power Sources.
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2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
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Latest News
Can hydrogen be the transportation fuel in an otherwise nuclear economy?
Let’s face it: The global economy should be powered primarily by nuclear power. And it probably will by the end of this century, with a still-significant assist from renewables and hydro. Once nuclear systems are dominant, the costs come down to where gas is now; and when carbon emissions are reduced to a small portion of their present state, it will become obvious that most other sources are only good in niche settings. I mean, why use small modular reactors to load-follow when they can just produce that power instead of buffering it?
E. E. Lewis, Yunzhao Li, M. A. Smith, W. S. Yang, Allan B. Wollaber
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 173 | Number 3 | March 2013 | Pages 222-232
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE11-106
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Multigrid-preconditioned Krylov methods are applied to within-group response matrix equations of the type derived from the variational nodal method for neutron transport with interface conditions represented by orthogonal polynomials in space and spherical harmonics in angle. Since response matrix equations result in nonsymmetric coefficient matrices, the generalized minimal residual (GMRES) Krylov method is employed. Two acceleration methods are employed: response matrix aggregation and multigrid preconditioning. Without approximation, response matrix aggregation combines fine-mesh response matrices into coarse-mesh response matrices with piecewise-orthogonal polynomial interface conditions; this may also be viewed as a form of nonoverlapping domain decomposition on the coarse grid. Two-level multigrid preconditioning is also applied to the GMRES method by performing auxiliary iterations with one degree of freedom per interface that conserve neutron balance for three types of interface conditions: (a) p preconditioning is applied to orthogonal polynomial interface conditions (in conjunction with matrix aggregation), (b) h preconditioning to piecewise-constant interface conditions, and (c) h-p preconditioning to piecewise-orthogonal polynomial interface conditions. Alternately, aggregation is employed outside the GMRES algorithm to coarsen the grid, and multigrid preconditioning is then applied to the coarsened equations. The effectiveness of the combined aggregation and preconditioning techniques is demonstrated in two dimensions on a fixed-source, within-group neutron diffusion problem approximating the fast group of a pressurized water reactor configuration containing six fuel assemblies.