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
Jul 2026
Jan 2026
2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
August 2026
Nuclear Technology
July 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
The deadline arrives: Checking in on the Reactor Pilot Program
On May 23, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14301, “Reforming Nuclear Reactor Testing at the DOE,” which instructed the Department of Energy to create a Reactor Pilot Program (RPP)—a new system in which companies could pursue DOE authorization to build and test their first-of-a-kind nuclear technologies. EO 14301 set an ambitious goal for that program: three reactors achieving criticality by July 4, 2026.
Hyung Jin Shim, Chang Hyo Kim
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 157 | Number 2 | October 2007 | Pages 132-141
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE06-33
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Two new stopping criteria designed to terminate automatically inactive cycle runs in Monte Carlo (MC) neutronics eigenvalue calculations are derived in terms of the covariance matrix of stochastic error components inherent in the stationary fission source distribution (FSD) from each stationary MC cycle run. A practical way to determine the covariance matrix using nonstationary FSD in the course of inactive cycle MC runs is presented. The effectiveness of the new stopping criteria including the way to calculate the covariance matrix is examined through continuous energy MC neutronics calculations for ten pressurized water reactor test problems with varying dominance ratios. It is shown that the empiricism-free new stopping criteria stop inactive cycle MC runs effectively and that FSDs from the termination of inactive MC runs are stationary consistent with the available posterior source convergence diagnosis.