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Division Spotlight
Reactor Physics
The division's objectives are to promote the advancement of knowledge and understanding of the fundamental physical phenomena characterizing nuclear reactors and other nuclear systems. The division encourages research and disseminates information through meetings and publications. Areas of technical interest include nuclear data, particle interactions and transport, reactor and nuclear systems analysis, methods, design, validation and operating experience and standards. The Wigner Award heads the awards program.
Meeting Spotlight
2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
Standards Program
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
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.
Delgersaikhan Tuya, Toru Obara
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 193 | Number 5 | May 2019 | Pages 481-494
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2018.1540209
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A multiregion integral kinetic (MIK) code based on the integral kinetic model and a Monte Carlo neutron transport method has been developed with a new time-dependent feedback modeling capability. The current MIK code is applicable to the supercritical power transient following reactivity insertion in a fissile system of arbitrary geometry and composition, taking its feedback mechanisms into account. The new time-dependent feedback modeling capability allows a more direct and accurate treatment of complicated and nonlinear feedback mechanisms in a given system. The purpose of this study is to verify the MIK code and its time-dependent feedback modeling capability through various supercritical transient experiments conducted at the Godiva, TRACY, and SILENE facilities. Specifically, four supercritical experiments were selected and simulated using the MIK code. The various complicated feedback mechanisms—thermal expansion in Godiva, and Doppler broadening, thermal expansion, and radiolytic gas creation in TRACY and SILENE—provide a good benchmark for verifying the MIK code and its time-dependent feedback model. The obtained results show generally good, albeit occasionally poor, agreement with experimental results depending on the specific experiment. When the reasons for the poor agreement are considered, however, it may be concluded that the simulated results show promising agreement with the experiments, verifying the MIK code and its time-dependent feedback modeling capability.