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Division Spotlight
Thermal Hydraulics
The division provides a forum for focused technical dialogue on thermal hydraulic technology in the nuclear industry. Specifically, this will include heat transfer and fluid mechanics involved in the utilization of nuclear energy. It is intended to attract the highest quality of theoretical and experimental work to ANS, including research on basic phenomena and application to nuclear system design.
Meeting Spotlight
Nuclear and Emerging Technologies for Space (NETS 2025)
May 4–8, 2025
Huntsville, AL|Huntsville Marriott and the Space & Rocket Center
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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May 2025
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Nuclear Science and Engineering
June 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
First concrete marks start of safety-related construction for Hermes test reactor
Kairos Power announced this morning that safety-related nuclear construction has begun at the Oak Ridge, Tenn., site where the company is building its Hermes low-power test reactor. Hermes, a scaled demonstration of Kairos Power’s fluoride salt–cooled, high-temperature reactor technology, became the first non–light water reactor to receive a construction permit from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in December 2023. The company broke ground at the site in July 2024.
Miriam A. Kreher, Samuel Shaner, Benoit Forget, Kord Smith
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 197 | Number 2 | February 2023 | Pages 279-290
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2022.2067739
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Frequency Transform method is used for the first time to efficiently model a multiple-second transient problem with Monte Carlo (MC). This is achieved by coupling MC with a time-dependent coarse mesh finite difference (TD-CMFD) diffusion solver. TD-CMFD presents a large advantage over commonly used point kinetics equations since it preserves spatial resolution during the transient and provides equivalence with the high-order method through nonlinear diffusion coefficients. As TD-CMFD computes time-dependent and spatially dependent neutronics information, it also computes frequencies that describe the rate of change of neutron and delayed precursor concentrations. These frequencies are used in MC shape function calculations as an approximation for the time derivatives. As the simulation proceeds, MC calculations update the multigroup cross sections, currents, and diffusion coefficients that are needed in TD-CMFD, and in turn, TD-CMFD updates the frequencies. Our results show the success of the Frequency Transform method in prescribed transient problems on the C5G7 geometry and on a fuel pin geometry. The Frequency Transform method showed significant improvement compared to the Adiabatic approximation, which does not use any frequency information in the MC calculation. The improvements in spatial resolution are shown to be a direct result of frequencies. Additionally, a study of how TD-CMFD’s nonlinear diffusion coefficients behave in time provides a first-of-its-kind study of how equivalence factors are impacted by transients.