ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
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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
2025 ANS Annual Conference
June 15–18, 2025
Chicago, IL|Chicago Marriott Downtown
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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Jun 2025
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Nuclear Science and Engineering
July 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Smarter waste strategies: Helping deliver on the promise of advanced nuclear
At COP28, held in Dubai in 2023, a clear consensus emerged: Nuclear energy must be a cornerstone of the global clean energy transition. With electricity demand projected to soar as we decarbonize not just power but also industry, transport, and heat, the case for new nuclear is compelling. More than 20 countries committed to tripling global nuclear capacity by 2050. In the United States alone, the Department of Energy forecasts that the country’s current nuclear capacity could more than triple, adding 200 GW of new nuclear to the existing 95 GW by mid-century.
Workshop
Thursday, April 4, 2024|1:30–4:00PM EDT|Engineering Design and Innovation Building Room 326
Session Organizers:
Carolina Dutra (Penn State University)
Luiz Aldeia Machado (Penn State University)
Want to learn about Nek5000? In this hands-on workshop, Dr. Elia Merzari (PSU) and PSU students will guide attendees as they explore this open-source computational fluid dynamics code known for its scalability and precision. Nek5000 combines spectral methods with finite element techniques, making it versatile for various nuclear energy applications. It can conduct DNS, LES, and unsteady RANS simulations and accommodates both incompressible and low-Mach models. All attendees are expected to bring their personal computers. No prior experience with using the software is required.
Speaker
Elia Merzari
Dr. Elia Merzari received his Ph.D. from the Tokyo Institute of Technology with a thesis on the use of advanced computational fluid dynamics techniques for the simulation of flows in rod bundles. After graduation, he remained at the same institute as a Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science fellow. In 2009, he joined Argonne National Laboratory, first as a postdoctoral fellow and then as a regular staff in 2010. At Argonne, Dr. Merzari served in several roles in the Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) program, for which he currently is the thermal-fluids lead. In 2019, he joined the faculty at Penn State as an associate professor. Dr. Merzari’s research relies on predictive large-scale simulations of turbulence to improve our physical understanding of complex flows and to ultimately design safer and more efficient nuclear reactors.
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