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Education, Training & Workforce Development
The Education, Training & Workforce Development Division provides communication among the academic, industrial, and governmental communities through the exchange of views and information on matters related to education, training and workforce development in nuclear and radiological science, engineering, and technology. Industry leaders, education and training professionals, and interested students work together through Society-sponsored meetings and publications, to enrich their professional development, to educate the general public, and to advance nuclear and radiological science and engineering.
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2024 ANS Winter Conference and Expo
November 17–21, 2024
Orlando, FL|Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld
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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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New laws offer nuclear industry incentives for existing power plant uprates
This year, the U.S. nuclear industry received a much-needed economic boost that could help preserve operating nuclear power plants and incentivize upgrades that extend their lifespan and power output.
Signed into law in 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act offers production tax credits (PTCs) for existing nuclear power plants and either PTCs or investment tax credits (ITCs) for new carbon-free generation. These credits could make power uprates—increasing the maximum power level at which a commercial plant may operate—a much more appealing option for utilities.
Willi Hoebel
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 92 | Number 1 | January 1986 | Pages 20-26
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE86-A17860
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
For the numerical solution of sparse systems of linear equations arising from the finite difference approximation of the multidimensional neutron diffusion equation, fast methods are needed. Effective algorithms for scalar computers may not be likewise suitable on vector computers. In the improved version (DIXY2) of the Karlsruhe two-dimensional neutron diffusion code for rectangular geometries, an incomplete Cholesky conjugate gradient (ICCG) algorithm has been combined with the originally implemented cyclically reduced four-line successive overrelaxation (CR4LSOR) inner iteration method. The combined procedure is automatically activated for slowly converging applications, thus leading to a drastic reduction of iterations as well as CPU times on a scalar computer. In a follow-up benchmark study, necessary modifications to ICCG and CR4LSOR for use on a vector computer were investigated. It was found that a modified preconditioning for the ICCG algorithm restricted to the block diagonal matrix is an effective method both on scalar and vector computers. With a splitting of the nine-band matrix in two triangular Cholesky matrices, necessary inversions are performed on a scalar machine by recursive forward and backward substitutions. On vector computers an additional factorization of the triangular matrices into four bidiagonal matrices enables Buneman reduction, and the recursive inversion is restricted to a small system. A similar strategy can be realized with CR4LSOR if the unvectorizable Gauss-Seidel iteration is replaced by Double Jacobi and Buneman techniques for a vector computer. Compared to single-line blocking over the original mesh, the cyclical four-line reduction of the DIXY inner iteration scheme reduces numbers of iterations and CPU times considerably.