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Division Spotlight
Mathematics & Computation
Division members promote the advancement of mathematical and computational methods for solving problems arising in all disciplines encompassed by the Society. They place particular emphasis on numerical techniques for efficient computer applications to aid in the dissemination, integration, and proper use of computer codes, including preparation of computational benchmark and development of standards for computing practices, and to encourage the development on new computer codes and broaden their use.
Meeting Spotlight
International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering (M&C 2025)
April 27–30, 2025
Denver, CO|The Westin Denver Downtown
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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Dragonfly, a Pu-fueled drone heading to Titan, gets key NASA approval
Curiosity landed on Mars sporting a radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) in 2012, and a second NASA rover, Perseverance, landed in 2021. Both are still rolling across the red planet in the name of science. Another exploratory craft with a similar plutonium-238–fueled RTG but a very different mission—to fly between multiple test sites on Titan, Saturn’s largest moon—recently got one step closer to deployment.
On April 25, NASA and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) announced that the Dragonfly mission to Saturn’s icy moon passed its critical design review. “Passing this mission milestone means that Dragonfly’s mission design, fabrication, integration, and test plans are all approved, and the mission can now turn its attention to the construction of the spacecraft itself,” according to NASA.
R. A. Borrelli, Olivier Thivent, Joonhong Ahn
Nuclear Technology | Volume 174 | Number 1 | April 2011 | Pages 94-108
Technical Paper | Geochemistry and Ground Transport of RW | doi.org/10.13182/NT11-A11683
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The study presented in this paper examines the potential of extruded bentonite as an additional barrier to radionuclide release to the far field. In the saturated repository, the bulk bentonite buffer surrounding the waste package will extrude into an intersecting fracture. Subsequent radionuclide release and transport into the fracture could be affected by the presence of this extrusion region. A model was previously established to describe the transport of radionuclides in the fracture that also includes this extruded bentonite. In this paper, we study model simulations for an idealized case of cesium transport through the extrusion region at elevated temperature. Extrusion speed will increase and cesium transport is enhanced with temperature; however, this extrusion region shows favorable performance in confining cesium at all temperatures. This study suggests that additional, rigorous modeling of this extrusion region as a barrier to radionuclide release with consideration of performance assessment studies is warranted.
