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Division Spotlight
Reactor Physics
The division's objectives are to promote the advancement of knowledge and understanding of the fundamental physical phenomena characterizing nuclear reactors and other nuclear systems. The division encourages research and disseminates information through meetings and publications. Areas of technical interest include nuclear data, particle interactions and transport, reactor and nuclear systems analysis, methods, design, validation and operating experience and standards. The Wigner Award heads the awards program.
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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Latest News
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.
Jan-Ru Tang, Shao-Shei Ma, Jan-Der Wang, Show-Chyuan Chiang, Lin-Yao Chou, Ching-Chuan Yao, Ying-Tsen Liao
Nuclear Technology | Volume 128 | Number 2 | November 1999 | Pages 186-204
Technical Paper | RETRAN | doi.org/10.13182/NT99-A3024
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Three analyses are presented for the Kuosheng plant, the second nuclear power station of the Taiwan Power Company. The first is a startup test benchmark analysis of full closure of the main steam isolation valves (MSIVs). This analysis is one of a series of startup test analyses to develop the Kuosheng RETRAN model. The second is a parallel reload safety analysis of a system pressure-limiting transient for Kuosheng Unit 2, Cycle 12, which is a part of work to develop an in-house reload safety analysis methodology. The third is an operating support analysis of a reactor trip event due to a single MSIV closure in October 1997; this analysis demonstrates the application of the Kuosheng RETRAN model. The work may add to the RETRAN experience base and to the plant modeling body of knowledge. A similar approach can be adopted to support the plant, with concerns.
