ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
Latest Magazine Issues
Jun 2026
Jan 2026
2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
July 2026
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
May 2026
Latest News
Breaking ground on a new approach to construction
The drive to Kairos Power’s reactor demonstration site in Oak Ridge, Tenn., is not only scenic—it’s historic. Nearly 85 years ago, roughly 30,000 construction workers transformed orchards and farmland into a key Manhattan Project site. Depending on your route, you may pass by one of the three gatehouses that were once military checkpoints controlling access to Atomic Energy Commission production facilities.
Hangbok Choi
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 137 | Number 1 | January 2001 | Pages 38-51
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE01-A2174
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The fuel composition heterogeneity effect on reactor performance parameters was assessed by refueling simulations for three DUPIC fuel options of fuel composition heterogeneity control: fissile content adjustment, reactivity control by slightly enriched and depleted uranium, and reactivity control by natural uranium. For each DUPIC fuel option, the simulations were performed using 30 heterogeneous fuel types, which were determined by the agglomerative hierarchical clustering method. The heterogeneity effect was considered during the refueling simulation by randomly selecting fuel types for the refueling operation. The refueling simulations of the heterogeneous core have shown that the key performance parameters, such as the maximum channel power (MCP), maximum bundle power (MBP), and channel power peaking factor (CPPF), are close to those of the core that has a single fuel type. For the three DUPIC fuel options, the uncertainties of MCP, MBP, and CPPF due to the fuel composition heterogeneity are <0.6, 1.5, and 0.8%, respectively. This study has shown that the three DUPIC fuel options reduce the composition heterogeneity effectively, and the zone power control system has a sufficient margin to adjust the perturbations caused by fuel composition heterogeneity.