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Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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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.
S. Das
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 122 | Number 3 | March 1996 | Pages 344-358
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE96-A24169
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The method of point reactor kinetics in conjunction with the new concepts of delayed spectrum factor and beta growth factor is used to calculate the sensitivity of the dynamic behavior of a fast breeder reactor to large changes in delayed neutron energies following postulated reactivity accidents. The positive ramp rates are introduced not to simulate physical possibilities but solely to test the sensitivity to delayed neutron spectral changes under different conditions. A limited number of transient calculations are made using the point-kinetics code SENSTVTY, six precursor groups, and Doppler feedback. The calculational method and the reactor model are described. Delayed neutron requirements in reactor dynamics are discussed, and a brief review of the sensitivity studies is presented. The results of the sensitivity calculations indicate that the relative power, the peak power, and the accident energy release are sensitive to changes in βeff resulting from uncertainty in the delayed spectral data, but the sensitivity of the relative power is much greater than the peak power and the accident energy release. The spread in the maximum reactivity reached is found to be ∼18%, and the time spread in the melting of fuel and cladding is in milliseconds.
