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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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Argonne’s METL gears up to test more sodium fast reactor components
Argonne National Laboratory has successfully swapped out an aging cold trap in the sodium test loop called METL (Mechanisms Engineering Test Loop), the Department of Energy announced April 23. The upgrade is the first of its kind in the United States in more than 30 years, according to the DOE, and will help test components and operations for the sodium-cooled fast reactors being developed now.
S. E. Corno, M. L. Buzano, P. Ravetto
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 105 | Number 2 | June 1990 | Pages 142-159
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE90-A23744
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An original technique for deriving the closed form solution of the multigroup system of time- and space-dependent neutron diffusion equations is reported and applied to a nonuniform multiplying structure of particular interest in cylindrical geometry. The problem of evaluating the time eigenvalues, the dynamic eigenstates, and the asymptotic power behavior of mixed fuel cores, where localized variations of the delayed neutron yield of the fuel occur, is analyzed on a rigorous basis and solved for significant sample geometries. The results provide a sound basis for establishing the region of a core where a significant amount of plutonium will induce the “minimum damage” to the overall dynamic characteristics of the reactor. These results also provide the “more suitable spatial distributions” to be assigned to a limited quantity of uranium to improve the dynamic performance of a nonuniform core, basically fueled with plutonium or mixed fissionable materials. Hence, it can be stated, on a rigorous a priori basis, the conditions where the plutonium energy release can be made as safe as possible.