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Division Spotlight
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.
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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June 2024
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Latest News
G7 pledges support for nuclear at Italy meeting
The Group of Seven (G7) recommitted its support for nuclear energy in the countries that opt to use it at a Ministerial Meeting on Climate in Italy last month.
In a statement following the April meeting, the group committed to support multilateral efforts to strengthen the resilience of nuclear supply chains, referencing the goal set by 25 countries during last year’s COP28 climate conference in Dubai to triple global nuclear generating capacity by 2050.
Hunter Belanger, Davide Mancusi, Amélie Rouchon, Andrea Zoia
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 197 | Number 4 | April 2023 | Pages 534-557
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2022.2126719
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Neutron noise in nuclear power reactors refers to the small fluctuations around the average neutron flux at steady state resulting from time-dependent perturbations inside the core. The neutron noise equations in the frequency domain can be solved using Monte Carlo simulation codes, which are capable of obtaining reference solutions involving almost no approximations but are hindered by severe issues affecting the statistical convergence: The simultaneous presence of positive and negative particles, which is required by the nature of the complex noise equations, leads to catastrophically large variance in the tallies. In this work, we consider the important case of neutron noise problems induced by mechanical vibrations. First, we derive a new exact sampling strategy for the noise source. Then, building upon our previous findings in other contexts, we show that weight cancellation methods can be highly beneficial in dealing with the presence of negative weights, enabling extremely large gains in the figure of merit. We successfully demonstrate our results on a benchmark configuration consisting of a fuel assembly with a vibrating pin, and we discuss possible pathways for further improvements.