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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
2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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
Digital control system installed at China’s Linglong One
Earlier this month, the first digital control system was put in place at Linglong One, a small modular reactor demonstration project being built at the Changjiang nuclear power plant in Hainan Province. This is the world’s first land-based commercial SMR and is controlled by China National Nuclear Power Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of the China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC).
Thiago H. da Silva, Drew Butler, Austin Biaggne, Nirmala Kandadai, Harish Subbaraman (Boise State Univ), Joshua Daw (INL), Lan Li (Boise State Univ/Center for Advanced Energy Studies)
Proceedings | Nuclear Plant Instrumentation, Control, and Human-Machine Interface Technolgies (NPIC&HMIT 2019) | Orlando, FL, February 9-14, 2019 | Pages 448-458
Density functional theory-based calculations and ab-initio molecular dynamics have been performed in order to study the effects of dopants and radiation defects on the structures and optical properties of amorphous silica in comparison to sapphire – another high-temperature and radiation-resistant material. Out studies focused on oxygen deficient centers ODCs (a typical point defect due to radiation damage) and fluorine F dopants. Optical properties depend on dielectric function, calculated from the charge density of the material. With real- and imaginary-part dielectric functions, all the other optical properties, such as refractive index, energy loss function, and absorption coefficient, could be derived. Optical properties of amorphous silica and sapphire become anisotropic with either ODC or F dopants. They contribute characteristic peaks to the optical spectra and induce minor peaks in the low photon energy ranges. Static optical coefficients significantly increase with F dopants, but they might remain or slightly increase with ODC. Our results suggest that adding dopants can improve the optical properties of the materials and potentially inhabit the formation of high-temperature and radiation defects, resulting in an enhancement of the light signal in their transmitted spectra. Controlling dopant concentration also plays a crucial role, because a high dopant concentration could cause a structural distortion and degrade the optical performance of the material.