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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
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
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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Latest News
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.
A.G. Heics, W.T. Shmayda, R. Matsugu, S.K. Sood, K. Kalyanam, G.M. Pien, S. Letzring
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 28 | Number 3 | October 1995 | Pages 1515-1520
Tritium Waste Management and Discharge Control | Proceedings of the Fifth Topical Meeting on Tritium Technology In Fission, Fusion, and Isotopic Applications Belgirate, Italy May 28-June 3, 1995 | doi.org/10.13182/FST95-A30627
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Omega Upgrade at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics will commence deuterium-tritium (DT) shots in 1995. Omega Upgrade utilizes a 350 nm, 30 kJ laser to energize DT filled targets contained within an evacuated target chamber (TC). Up to 10 DT shots per day are planned, 5 days a week, with each target containing 20 mCi of tritium. Cryopumps, used to achieve high vacuum in the TC and to collect unburnt gases following DT shots, are regenerated on a monthly basis. The Tritium Scrubber System (TSS) has been designed to capture tritium released from the cryopumps, vacuum pump exhaust streams, outgassing from internal surfaces, and in the event of target rupture. A large quantity of low activity gas needs to be processed by the system; the target chamber and diagnostic antechambers will be evacuated up to 8 and 2000 times each month, respectively. The TSS has been designed to interface with existing equipment at the facility. To permit the safe handling of tritium gas products and to comply with emission regulations, modifications are required to the facility to enable the capture of tritiated species from exhaust streams before being released to the atmosphere. The targeted annual tritium emission for the facility is less than 10 mCi. The TSS utilizes zirconium alloy hydride beds and molecular sieve beds to detritiate exhaust streams prior to stacking to satisfy this stringent emission target.