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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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June 2024
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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
Monday, April 22, 2024|1:30–3:15PM PDT|Franciscan C
Session Chair:
Go Chiba
Session Organizer:
Alternate Chair:
Joshua Hykes (Studsvik Scandpower)
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A Comparative Study of Efficient Sampling Techniques for Uncertainty Quantification due to Cross-Section Covariance Data
1:30–1:50PM PDT
Tatsuya Fujita (Japan Atomic Energy Agency)
Paper
Nuclear Data Uncertainty Methods in CASMO5 Using ENDF/B-VIII Covariances
1:50–2:10PM PDT
Joshua Hykes (Studsvik Scandpower), Charles Wemple (Studsvik Scandpower), Rodolfo Ferrer (Studsvik Scandpower)
Computation of Sensitivity in Monte-Carlo Codes: Investigation of Convergence for Reactor Cores with High Dominance Ratio
2:10–2:30PM PDT
M. Rababah (LPSC), A. Bidaud (LPSC)
Uncertainty Analysis of the Reaction Rates in Ringhals
2:30–2:50PM PDT
Jacob Persson (Vattenfall Nuclear Fuel)
Uncertainty Quantification in Fluoride-Based Molten Salt Reactors with Open Sourced Tools
2:50–3:10PM PDT
Zsolt Elter (Uppsala Univ.), Augusto Hernandez Solis (SCK CEN), Mario Ponce Tovar (Seaborg Technologies)
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