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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.
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2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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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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Commercial nuclear innovation "new space" age
In early 2006, a start-up company launched a small rocket from a tiny island in the Pacific. It exploded, showering the island with debris. A year later, a second launch attempt sent a rocket to space but failed to make orbit, burning up in the atmosphere. Another year brought a third attempt—and a third failure. The following month, in September 2008, the company used the last of its funds to launch a fourth rocket. It reached orbit, making history as the first privately funded liquid-fueled rocket to do so.
Sébastien Massart, Samuel Buis, Patrick Erhard, Guillaume Gacon
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 155 | Number 3 | March 2007 | Pages 409-424
Technical Paper | Mathematics and Computation, Supercomputing, Reactor Physics and Nuclear and Biological Applications | doi.org/10.13182/NSE07-A2673
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In this paper, data assimilation (DA) techniques that have proven to be efficient in the fields of meteorological forecast and oceanography are applied to neutronics problems. Two applications, the techniques of which can be used to enhance optimization, are presented: three-dimensional (3-D) neutronic field interpolation in online core monitoring, and parameter estimation in code qualification procedures. First, the main bases of DA theory are shortly presented. Calibration and estimation procedures that are in use today at Electricité de France (EDF) are then briefly introduced. We also analyze the main limitations of these procedures and the potential improvements that the use of various DA techniques can provide. We present the MANARA mock-up, which computes a 3-D field interpolation and has been implemented in PALM, a DA-dedicated coupling platform developed at the Centre Européen de Recerche et de Formation Avancée en Calcul Scientifique (CERFACS). Result validation and comparison with former interpolation procedure CAMARET are also presented. Next, the principles of the KAFEINE mock-up, based on an extended Kalman filter approach, are displayed. This application covers the field of optimal parameter calibration using the in-core measures. In conclusion, these first two applications to neutronics, carried out in partnership between CERFACS and EDF Research and Development, seem very promising, especially considering the new generation of neutronic solvers that are being developed in the frame of the DESCARTES project.