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Division Spotlight
Nuclear Criticality Safety
NCSD provides communication among nuclear criticality safety professionals through the development of standards, the evolution of training methods and materials, the presentation of technical data and procedures, and the creation of specialty publications. In these ways, the division furthers the exchange of technical information on nuclear criticality safety with the ultimate goal of promoting the safe handling of fissionable materials outside reactors.
Meeting Spotlight
Utility Working Conference and Vendor Technology Expo (UWC 2024)
August 4–7, 2024
Marco Island, FL|JW Marriott Marco Island
Standards Program
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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Nuclear Science and Engineering
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Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Taking shape: Fusion energy ecosystems built with public-private partnerships
It’s possible to describe fusion in simple terms: heat and squeeze small atoms to get abundant clean energy. But there’s nothing simple about getting fusion ready for the grid.
Private developers, national lab and university researchers, suppliers, and end users working toward that goal are developing a range of complex technologies to reach fusion temperatures and pressures, confounded by science and technology gaps linked to plasma behavior; materials, diagnostics, and electronics for extreme environments; fuel cycle sustainability; and economics.
Benjamin R. Betzler, Brian C. Kiedrowski, William R. Martin, Forrest B. Brown
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 192 | Number 2 | November 2018 | Pages 115-152
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2018.1497397
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
For a nuclear system in which the entire -eigenvalue spectrum is known, eigenfunction expansion yields the time-dependent flux response to any arbitrary source. Applications in which this response is of interest include pulsed-neutron experiments, accelerator-driven subcritical systems, and fast burst reactors, where a steady-state assumption used in neutron transport is invalid for characterizing the time-dependent flux. To obtain the -eigenvalue spectrum, the transition rate matrix method (TRMM) tallies transition rates describing neutron behavior in a discretized position-direction-energy phase space using Monte Carlo. Interpretation of the resulting Markov process transition rate matrix as the operator in the adjoint -eigenvalue problem provides an avenue for determining a large finite set of eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of a nuclear system. Results from the TRMM are verified using analytic solutions, time-dependent Monte Carlo simulations, and modal expansion from diffusion theory. For simplified infinite-medium and one-dimensional geometries, the TRMM accurately calculates eigenvalues, eigenfunctions, and eigenfunction expansion solutions. Applications and comparisons to measurements are made for the small fast burst reactor CALIBAN and the Fort St. Vrain high-temperature gas-cooled reactor. For large three-dimensional geometries, discretization of the large position-energy-direction phase space limits the accuracy of eigenfunction expansion solutions using the TRMM, but it can still generate a fair estimate of the fundamental eigenvalue and eigenfunction. These results show that the TRMM generates an accurate estimate of a large number of eigenvalues. This is not possible with existing Monte Carlo–based methods.