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Aerospace Nuclear Science & Technology
Organized to promote the advancement of knowledge in the use of nuclear science and technologies in the aerospace application. Specialized nuclear-based technologies and applications are needed to advance the state-of-the-art in aerospace design, engineering and operations to explore planetary bodies in our solar system and beyond, plus enhance the safety of air travel, especially high speed air travel. Areas of interest will include but are not limited to the creation of nuclear-based power and propulsion systems, multifunctional materials to protect humans and electronic components from atmospheric, space, and nuclear power system radiation, human factor strategies for the safety and reliable operation of nuclear power and propulsion plants by non-specialized personnel and more.
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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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Commercial nuclear innovation "new space" age
In early 2006, a start-up company launched a small rocket from a tiny island in the Pacific. It exploded, showering the island with debris. A year later, a second launch attempt sent a rocket to space but failed to make orbit, burning up in the atmosphere. Another year brought a third attempt—and a third failure. The following month, in September 2008, the company used the last of its funds to launch a fourth rocket. It reached orbit, making history as the first privately funded liquid-fueled rocket to do so.
Bingjing Su
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 137 | Number 3 | March 2001 | Pages 281-297
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE01-A2191
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The numerical stability, equilibrium diffusive limit, and accuracy of the variable Eddington factor (VEF) methods and flux-limited diffusion methods for radiation transport calculations are considered. The diffusive limit analysis proves that three VEF closures and their associated flux-limiters retain full first-order accuracy in the equilibrium diffusion limit while achieving the correct propagation speed in the optically thin streaming limit. The stability analysis reveals that the flux-limited diffusion methods are unconditionally stable, but the VEF equations with an arbitrary nonlinear closure can be numerically unstable for certain commonly used differencing schemes. However, regular solutions to the VEF equations are obtainable by Godunov-type schemes. Numerical comparisons among various solutions for a test problem show that flux-limited diffusion methods are only slightly less accurate than their corresponding VEF methods, and the Minerbo VEF method and the Minerbo flux-limited diffusion method are in general more accurate than other approximations.