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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.
M. T. Friend, R. F. Wright, R. Hundal, L. E. Hochreiter, M. Ogrins
Nuclear Technology | Volume 122 | Number 1 | April 1998 | Pages 19-42
Technical Paper | Reactor Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT98-A2848
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
As part of the AP600 design certification program, a series of component separate effects tests and two integral systems tests of the nuclear steam supply system were performed. These tests were designed to provide data necessary to validate Westinghouse safety analysis codes for AP600 applications. In addition, the tests have provided the opportunity to investigate the thermal-hydraulic phenomena that are expected to be important in AP600 transients. One series of integral systems tests was undertaken on the SPES-2 facility in Italy, a full-height, full-pressure, 1/395th-power and -volume scale simulation of the AP600 nuclear steam supply system and passive safety features. A series of thirteen design-basis events were simulated at SPES-2 to obtain data for verification and validation of the computer models used for the safety analysis of the AP600. The modeled initiating events included a series of small-break loss-of-coolant accidents (SBLOCAs), single steam generator tube ruptures, and a main steam-line break.The results of the analyses of the SPES-2 test data, performed to investigate the performance of the safety-related systems are reported. These analyses were also designed to demonstrate, through mass and energy inventory calculations, mass and energy balances, and event timing analyses, the applicability of the SPES-2 tests for computer model verification and validation. The key thermal-hydraulic phenomena simulated in the SPES-2 tests and the performance and interactions of the passive safety-related systems that can be investigated through the SPES-2 facility are emphasized. The latter includes the impact of accumulator nitrogen and nonsafety-related system actuation on the passive safety-related system performance.It is concluded that the key thermal-hydraulic phenomena that characterize the SBLOCA and non-LOCA transients have been successfully simulated in the SPES-2 facility, and the test results can be used to validate the AP600 safety analysis computer codes. The SPES-2 tests demonstrate that the AP600 passive safety-related systems successfully combine to provide a continuous removal of core decay heat. The SPES-2 tests also showed no adverse interactions between the passive safety-related system components or with the nonsafety-related systems. In particular, it was found that the effect of noncondensable nitrogen on passive safety-related system performance was negligible.
