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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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May 2024
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Nuclear Science and Engineering
June 2024
Nuclear Technology
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Latest News
How robust is HALEU from a nonproliferation perspective?
Shikha Prasad
High-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) has emerged as a popular fuel choice for advanced small modular reactors due to its long power production periods before refueling. It is currently being pursued by TerraPower, X-energy, BWX Technologies, Kairos, Oklo, and other reactor companies. HALEU has a uranium-235 enrichment ranging from 5 percent to 20 percent, whereas traditional LWRs use low-enriched uranium fuel enriched up to 5 percent.
HALEU will provide power for longer durations, compared with traditional LWRs. But could it also provide an opportunity for more rapid proliferation, as is speculated in a 2023 National Academy of Sciences report on advanced nuclear reactors (nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/26630/)?
If a nuclear proliferator conspires to divert fresh nuclear fuel for weapons production when it has not been used in a reactor, the effort required in separative work units (SWUs) to enrich U-235 from 5 percent to 90 percent and that required to enrich from 20 percent to 90 percent are both very small, compared with the effort required to enrich U-235 from its natural abundance to the initial 5 percent.
Technical Session|Methods
Tuesday, April 23, 2024|1:30–3:15PM PDT|Continental Ballroom 2
Session Chair:
Yves Robert (ORNL)
Alternate Chair:
April Novak (Univ. Illinois, Urbana-Champaign)
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An Iterative RSA-DEM Method for High Packing Fraction Stochastic Media
1:30–1:50PM PDT
Zhe Chuan Tan (Singapore Nuclear Research and Safety Initiative), Zhi Yuan Feng (Tsinghua Univ.), Kan Wang (Tsinghua Univ.)
Paper
ODR-VS Method for High Packing Fraction of Dispersed Fuel Particles in Annular Container
1:50–2:10PM PDT
Zhiyuan Feng (Tsinghua Univ.), Jingang Liang (Tsinghua Univ.), Wenli Guo (Tsinghua Univ.), Kan Wang (Tsinghua Univ.)
Presented by Zhe Chuan Tan (Singapore Nuclear Research and Safety Initiative)
Modeling Enhancements and Benchmarking of Pebble Bed Reactors in the Shift Monte Carlo Code
2:10–2:30PM PDT
Tarek Ghaddar (ORNL), Friederike Bostelmann (ORNL), Tara Pandya (ORNL), Matthew Jessee (ORNL)
Development of an Equilibrium Modeling Method for Modeling Micro-Modular Pebble-Bed High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactors
2:30–2:50PM PDT
Annie M. Berens (Univ. Tennessee, Knoxville), Friederike Bostelmann (ORNL), Nicholas R. Brown (Univ. Tennessee, Knoxville)
Investigating the Accuracy of Porous-Medium Treatments in the Analysis of Nuclear Thermal Propulsion Systems
2:50–3:10PM PDT
Zach Hughes (TAMU), Carlo Fiorina (TAMU), Nolan MacDonald (Ultra Safe Nuclear), Cristian Garza (Ultra Safe Nuclear), Thomas Guilbaud (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne), Alessandro Scolaro (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne)
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