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 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
Latest Magazine Issues
Apr 2026
Jan 2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
June 2026
Nuclear Technology
March 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
May 2026
Latest News
DOE selects first companies for nuclear launch pad
The Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy and the National Reactor Innovation Center have announced their first selections for the Nuclear Energy Launch Pad: three companies developing microreactors and one developing fuel supply.
The four companies—Deployable Energy, General Matter, NuCube Energy, and Radiant Industries—were selected from the initial pool of Reactor Pilot Program and Fuel Line Pilot Program applicants, the two precursor programs to the launch pad.
G. Ivan Maldonado, Paul J. Turinsky, David J. Kropaczek,Geoffrey T. Parks
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 121 | Number 2 | October 1995 | Pages 312-325
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE95-A28567
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The computer code FORMOSA-P (Fuel Optimization for Reloads Multiple Objectives by Simulated Annealing—PWR) has been developed to address pressurized water reactor (PWR) in-core nuclear fuel management optimization. Until recently, the optimization objectives available to the user included minimization of relative power peaking throughout the cycle, maximization of the end-of-cycle reactivity, and maximization of region-average discharge burnup. In addition, during an optimization, various core attributes (including the preceding objectives) can be optionally activated as constraints via penalty functions or to directly reject sampled loading patterns that violate established design limits. The underlying theoretical framework that enables the accurate and efficient calculation of objective and constraint values within the FORMOSA-P code is its higher order, nodal generalized perturbation theory (GPT) neutronics model. The utility of the FORMOSA-P code has been extended to include a traditionally out-of-core decision variable, namely, the fresh (i.e., feed) reload fuel enrichment. This is accomplished by formulating the feed enrichment as a GPT variable that can be adjusted concurrently with changes in the core loading pattern to enforce a target cycle length. This provides a reload designer with the capability to minimize feed enrichment during an in-core optimization while enforcing all other constraints (e.g., power peaking limit, cycle energy requirement, degree of eighth-core power tilt, discharge burnup limit, and moderator temperature coefficient limit).