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NN Asks: Is the U.S. ready for nuclear construction to accelerate?
Craig Stover
Yes, but . . .
The United States is better positioned today for nuclear construction than it has been in decades. Some of that comes from the experience gained at Vogtle and V.C. Summer. I was part of the team that helped start the V.C. Summer project in 2008, and at that time we were trying to build a nuclear construction workforce from scratch. We learned a lot through that effort, and many of those lessons learned have since been studied, documented, and shared.
The nuclear industry is also benefiting from the wave of investment that started growing around 2020. Over the last five or six years, there has been a serious effort across the country to get ready for new nuclear builds. The U.S. government and the private sector are investing billions of dollars in new nuclear. Much of that work is happening before widespread commercial deployment contracts are signed. This is real, and we need to prepare.
Jaakko Leppänen
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 174 | Number 3 | July 2013 | Pages 318-325
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE12-54
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This paper presents a methodology for applying continuously varying density distributions in Monte Carlo particle transport simulation. The capability is implemented in the Serpent 2 code, as part of an effort for developing a universal multiphysics interface for the coupling of Monte Carlo neutronics to thermal hydraulics and fuel performance codes. The method is based on rejection sampling of particle path lengths, but despite its close resemblance to the Woodcock delta-tracking method, the routine can be used with conventional surface tracking as well. The modified tracking routine is put to the test in a simple boiling water reactor pin-cell calculation with continuously changing void distribution in the coolant channel.