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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.
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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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Argonne’s METL gears up to test more sodium fast reactor components
Argonne National Laboratory has successfully swapped out an aging cold trap in the sodium test loop called METL (Mechanisms Engineering Test Loop), the Department of Energy announced April 23. The upgrade is the first of its kind in the United States in more than 30 years, according to the DOE, and will help test components and operations for the sodium-cooled fast reactors being developed now.
Robert W. Bussard
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 16 | Number 2 | September 1989 | Pages 231-236
Technical Note | doi.org/10.13182/FST89-A29152
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A model of deuterium-deuterium (D-D) fusion in metal lattices is presented based on two phenomena: (a) reactions between virtual-state pairs of deuterons “bound” by electrons of high effective mass m* and (b) deuterium energy upscattering by fast ions from fusion or tritium reactions with virtual-state nuclear structure groups in palladium nuclei. Since m* is a decreasing function of deuterium ion bulk density n0, the exponential barrier tunneling factor decreases rapidly with m*. As a result, the fusion rate reaches a maximum at a loading density above zero but less than saturation. This can explain observations of transient neutron output from the (3He,n) branch of D-D fusion. At low energy, D-D reactions favor the (T,p) branch. Fast product tritium may be captured by palladium isotopes to form excited-state Ag*, removing tritium from the system and preventing deuterium-tritium fusion. This may decay by alpha or proton emission, yielding fast ions and excited state Rh* or Pd*. Fast ion collisional “trapping” may occur at Fermi electron speeds, enhancing in situ upscattering and yielding increased D-D reaction rates. Analysis of the dynamics of these processes suggests conditions for exponential growth.