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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.
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International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering (M&C 2025)
April 27–30, 2025
Denver, CO|The Westin Denver Downtown
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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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Dragonfly, a Pu-fueled drone heading to Titan, gets key NASA approval
Curiosity landed on Mars sporting a radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) in 2012, and a second NASA rover, Perseverance, landed in 2021. Both are still rolling across the red planet in the name of science. Another exploratory craft with a similar plutonium-238–fueled RTG but a very different mission—to fly between multiple test sites on Titan, Saturn’s largest moon—recently got one step closer to deployment.
On April 25, NASA and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) announced that the Dragonfly mission to Saturn’s icy moon passed its critical design review. “Passing this mission milestone means that Dragonfly’s mission design, fabrication, integration, and test plans are all approved, and the mission can now turn its attention to the construction of the spacecraft itself,” according to NASA.
R. J. Land, T. A. Parish
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 4 | Number 2 | September 1983 | Pages 155-160
Hybrids and Nonelectric Applications | doi.org/10.13182/FST83-A22860
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A parametric study that evaluated the economic performance of breeder/client systems is described. The linkage of the breeders to the clients was modelled using the stockpile approach to determine the system doubling time. Since the actual capital costs of the breeders are uncertain, a precise prediction of the cost of a breeder was not attempted. Instead, the breakeven capital cost of a breeder relative to the capital cost of a client reactor was established by equating the cost of electricity from the breeder/client system to the cost of a system consisting of clients alone. Specific results are presented for two breeder/client systems. The first consisted of an LMFBR with LWR clients. The second consisted of a DT fusion reactor (with a 238U fission suppressed blanket) with LWR clients. The economics of each system was studied as a function of the cost of fissile fuel from a conventional source. Generally, the LMFBR/LWR system achieved relatively small breakeven captial cost ratios; the maximum ratio computed was 2.2 (achieved at approximately triple current conventional fissile material cost). The DTFR/LWR system attained a maximum breakeven capital cost ratio of 4.5 (achieved at the highest plasma quality (ignited device) and triple conventional fissile cost).