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Division Spotlight
Robotics & Remote Systems
The Mission of the Robotics and Remote Systems Division is to promote the development and application of immersive simulation, robotics, and remote systems for hazardous environments for the purpose of reducing hazardous exposure to individuals, reducing environmental hazards and reducing the cost of performing work.
Meeting Spotlight
Utility Working Conference and Vendor Technology Expo (UWC 2024)
August 4–7, 2024
Marco Island, FL|JW Marriott Marco Island
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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Nuclear Science and Engineering
August 2024
Nuclear Technology
July 2024
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
NRC engineers share their expertise at the University of Puerto Rico
Robert Roche-Rivera and Marcos Rolón-Acevedo are licensed professional engineers who work at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. They are also alumni of the University of Puerto Rico–Mayagüez (UPRM) and have been sharing their knowledge and experience with students at their alma mater since last year, serving as adjunct professors in the university’s Department of Mechanical Engineering. During the 2023–2024 school year, they each taught two courses: Fundamentals of Nuclear Science and Engineering, and Nuclear Power Plant Engineering.
Dennis L. Youchison, Michael A. Ulrickson
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 64 | Number 2 | August 2013 | Pages 269-276
Divertor and High-Heat-Flux Components | Proceedings of the Twentieth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (TOFE-2012) (Part 1), Nashville, Tennessee, August 27-31, 2012 | doi.org/10.13182/FST13-A18088
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Continual technology development for fusion has come to rely on the principle of "design by analysis" where advanced finite element analysis (FEA) or finite volume analysis provides insight on the performance of engineered systems. Extensive three-dimensional (3D) computations in fluid dynamics, heat transfer, neutronics, magneto-hydrodynamics and electro-magnetics are involved in an iterative design process for magnets, vacuum vessels and in-vessel components. Many difficulties arose in the integration of computer-assisted design (CAD) packages and the numeric models and results from different FEA codes. Over the last decade, engineers developed a vast array of specialized translators and interpolation programs to deal with geometry, mesh and load transfers between single-discipline codes, often with mixed outcomes. Now, several multiphysics codes that allow calculations on the same mesh and easy transfer of loads and other boundary conditions are emerging in the commercial market. These codes often have a robust library of physics models and solvers that address both steady state and transient phenomena and provide simultaneous solutions to heat transfer, fluid flow and structural mechanics problems. This article reviews three existing design tools, provides some examples of how the multiphysics codes are impacting practical engineering design, and identifies some important gaps that still exist today.