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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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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Powering the future: How the DOE is fueling nuclear fuel cycle research and development
As global interest in nuclear energy surges, the United States must remain at the forefront of research and development to ensure national energy security, advance nuclear technologies, and promote international cooperation on safety and nonproliferation. A crucial step in achieving this is analyzing how funding and resources are allocated to better understand how to direct future research and development. The Department of Energy has spearheaded this effort by funding hundreds of research projects across the country through the Nuclear Energy University Program (NEUP). This initiative has empowered dozens of universities to collaborate toward a nuclear-friendly future.
Gregory D. Wyss, Roy A. Axford
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 100 | Number 4 | December 1988 | Pages 458-466
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE88-A23579
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Physically realistic step function control rod models are shown to be unsolvable under traditional formulations of distributed parameter optimal control theory. Extensions to the theory are proposed and derived to allow these systems to be analyzed using straightforward optimality conditions. The extended theory is then applied to a xenon-iodine oscillation problem in two dimensions. The conditions of optimality are found, and analytical insights concerning the importance of the control rod tip for the optimality condition are obtained. The flux influence function is found by solving an eigenvalue problem, and the required normalization condition is found in one of the optimality conditions. The optimality and normalization conditions are solved numerically for a severe xenon transient, and the transient is stabilized by the intervention of the optimal control.
