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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.
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NC State celebrates 70 years of nuclear engineering education
An early picture of the research reactor building on the North Carolina State University campus. The Department of Nuclear Engineering is celebrating the 70th anniversary of its nuclear engineering curriculum in 2020–2021. Photo: North Carolina State University
The Department of Nuclear Engineering at North Carolina State University has spent the 2020–2021 academic year celebrating the 70th anniversary of its becoming the first U.S. university to establish a nuclear engineering curriculum. It started in 1950, when Clifford Beck, then of Oak Ridge, Tenn., obtained support from NC State’s dean of engineering, Harold Lampe, to build the nation’s first university nuclear reactor and, in conjunction, establish an educational curriculum dedicated to nuclear engineering.
The department, host to the 2021 ANS Virtual Student Conference, scheduled for April 8–10, now features 23 tenure/tenure-track faculty and three research faculty members. “What a journey for the first nuclear engineering curriculum in the nation,” said Kostadin Ivanov, professor and department head.
Cheng-Der Wang, Chaung Lin
Nuclear Technology | Volume 176 | Number 1 | October 2011 | Pages 72-82
Technical Paper | Second Seminar on Accelerated Testing of Materials in Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Waste Storage Systems / Fission Reactors | dx.doi.org/10.13182/NT11-A12543
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A method for the automatic design of a boiling water reactor (BWR) control rod (CR) pattern (CRP) was developed using the rank-based ant system, which is an effective optimization algorithm for a combinatorial optimization problem. The designed BWR CRP followed either the A2-B1-A1-B2 or the A1-B2-A2-B1 sequence in this study. After the CRP was determined, the SIMULATE-3 code was used to calculate the axial power distribution, the effective multiplication factor keff, the shutdown margin, and three thermal limits-which were then used to evaluate the CRP and update the pheromone concentration. The developed methodology was demonstrated using design CRPs for several fuel loading patterns, showing that the designed patterns can be obtained within a reasonable computation time and with an acceptable cycle length.
