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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
Utility Working Conference and Vendor Technology Expo (UWC 2024)
August 4–7, 2024
Marco Island, FL|JW Marriott Marco Island
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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Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Taking shape: Fusion energy ecosystems built with public-private partnerships
It’s possible to describe fusion in simple terms: heat and squeeze small atoms to get abundant clean energy. But there’s nothing simple about getting fusion ready for the grid.
Private developers, national lab and university researchers, suppliers, and end users working toward that goal are developing a range of complex technologies to reach fusion temperatures and pressures, confounded by science and technology gaps linked to plasma behavior; materials, diagnostics, and electronics for extreme environments; fuel cycle sustainability; and economics.
Zelmo Rodrigues de Lima, Aquilino Senra Martinez, Fernando Carvalho da Silva, Antonio Carlos Marques Alvim
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 170 | Number 1 | January 2012 | Pages 66-74
Technical Note | doi.org/10.13182/NSE10-67TN
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Cross sections are homogenized over an entire node in nodal model implementation. The presence of a control rod (CR) partially inserted in the node has occasioned axial heterogeneity and generates a homogenization problem. If the homogenization process is only the volume-weighted average for nuclear parameters, the calculation of the multiplication factor and power in steady-state problems may mean relevant errors and for time-dependent problems may have caused the well-known cusping problem, which arises in three-dimensional transient simulations with CR motions. The major purpose of this technical note is to introduce an alternative method, based on the nodal expansion method, to deal with partially inserted CRs in nodes. One-dimensional equations, acquired through transverse integration of the neutron diffusion equation, have been modified to formulate the alternative method, which was evaluated in a transient problem. Furthermore, the alternative method gives satisfactory results and corrects the cusping effect in the case analyzed in this technical note.