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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
Conference on Nuclear Training and Education: A Biennial International Forum (CONTE 2025)
February 3–6, 2025
Amelia Island, FL|Omni Amelia Island Resort
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
Senate committee hears from energy secretary nominee Chris Wright
Wright
Chris Wright, president-elect Trump’s pick to lead the U.S. Department of Energy, spent hours today fielding questions from members of the U.S. Senate’s committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
During the hearing, Wright—who’s spent most of his career in fossil fuels—made comments in support of nuclear energy and efforts to expand domestic generation in the near future. Asked what actions he would take as energy secretary to improve the development and deployment of SMRs, Wright said: “It’s a big challenge, and I’m new to government, so I can’t list off the five levers I can pull. But (I’ve been in discussions) about how to make it easier to research, to invest, to build things. The DOE has land at some of its facilities that can be helpful in this regard.”
Taha H. Zerguini
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 92 | Number 1 | January 1986 | Pages 84-91
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE86-A17868
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A perturbation method is developed to find solutions of sloshing ion distributions. This method uses an expansion in the ratio of electrostatic potential to average ion energy to simplify the bounce-averaged Fokker-Planck equation. Finite element techniques, which provide rapid numerical solutions for parametric studies of sloshing ions, are used to derive the zeroth-order angular and velocity equations. The first-order two-dimensional equation was also expanded into finite element “hat functions.” Application of Galerkin's method gives a linear system of equations where all matrix and source elements are calculated analytically. The density ratio and the potential profiles as functions of axial distance are computed. There is excellent agreement with results from the Lawrence Liver-more National Laboratory bounce-averaged Fokker-Planck code with as much as 500 times and 50 times less Cray-1 computer time for the zeroth- and the first-order solutions, respectively.