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Conference Spotlight
2026 Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
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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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December 2025
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Modernizing I&C for operations and maintenance, one phase at a time
The two reactors at Dominion Energy’s Surry plant are among the oldest in the U.S. nuclear fleet. Yet when the plant celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2023, staff could raise a toast to the future. Surry was one of the first plants to file a subsequent license renewal (SLR) application, and in May 2021, it became official: the plant was licensed to operate for a full 80 years, extending its reactors’ lifespans into 2052 and 2053.
Maximiliano Dalinger, William Walters
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 199 | Number 1 | April 2025 | Pages S754-S764
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2024.2328944
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Monte Carlo codes are the most accurate way to solve the neutronics in a reactor core but can be computationally expensive, especially for when feedback effects are considered or for transient calculations. In this paper, we use the fission matrix (FM) method to perform static and transient calculations with point-kinetics equations and a quasi-static model for an adiabatic transient with feedback. This was applied to a three-dimensional model of the Transient Reactor Test Facility (TREAT) experimental reactor using the Monte Carlo code Serpent for reference calculations and to generate fission matrix databases (FMDBs). In previous works, FMDBs were generated with uniform fuel temperature profiles. Here, we analyze the use of FMDBs with nonuniform temperature profiles, for static and transient calculations. For static calculations, comparison between Serpent and the FM method using nonuniform and uniform FMDBs showed maximum differences in multiplication factors of 57.0 and 77.9 pcm, respectively. For the fission source distribution, comparisons showed maximum root-mean-square differences of 1.10% and 4.89% for nonuniform and uniform FMDBs, respectively. Similar results were obtained when using homogenized databases. Therefore, using nonuniform FMDBs produces a better approximation than uniform databases. For transient calculations, comparisons between both database sets showed differences of 0.9% and −1.8% for the peak and final total power.