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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
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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
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.
Sümer Sahin, Haci Mehmet Sahin, Adnan Sözen
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 33 | Number 4 | July 1998 | Pages 418-434
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST98-A41
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Basic nuclear data for a design concept with inertial fusion energy propulsion for manned or heavy cargo deep space missions beyond earth orbit have been evaluated. Fusion power deposited in the inertial confined fuel pellet debris delivers the rocket propulsion with the help of a magnetic nozzle.The superconducting magnets of the magnetic nozzle are protected against neutron and gamma-ray radiation by a massive shielding. Throughout the shielding, the nuclear heating, caused by neutrons and gamma rays has been calculated. As a critical issue for this design concept, special attention is paid to the nuclear heating in the superconducting magnet coils. The neutron and gamma-ray penetration into the coils is calculated using the Sn methods with a high angular resolution in r-z geometry in S16 P3 approximation by dividing the solid space angle in 160 sectors.Total peak nuclear heat generation density in the coils is calculated as 64.5 W/cm3 by a fusion power of 17 500 MW. Peak neutron heating density is 30.8 W/cm3, and peak gamma-ray heating density is 40.6 W/cm3 (on a different point). However, volume-averaged heat generation in the coils is much lower, namely, 2.17, 8.49, and 10.66 W/cm3 for neutron, gamma-ray, and total nuclear heating, respectively.A conically shaped frozen hydrogen expellant reduces the neutron streaming toward the spacecraft by a factor of ~12.5 via neutron scattering on hydrogen and deflection into vacuum, in addition to the geometric neutron flux attenuation in space by 1/r2. The results of these calculations can help to increase the credibility of the vehicle for interplanetary space transport applications design concept.
