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Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
In transition: Commercializing fusion power
Commercial fusion power is closer than ever. There are now around 30 U.S. fusion companies, several of which claim to be on track to connect to the grid as early as the 2030s.
Tokamak and laser inertial confinement approaches benefit from decades of research at facilities such as the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and ITER, with alternative concepts including stellarator, magnetic mirror, and Z-pinch confinement also making notable progress as private and government funding for fusion increases.
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.