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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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2024 ANS Winter Conference and Expo
November 17–21, 2024
Orlando, FL|Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld
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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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.
Chaung Lin, Jiing-Iuan Yang, Kuan-Jan Lin, Zheng-De Wang
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 129 | Number 1 | May 1998 | Pages 61-71
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE98-A1963
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A computer program based on the simple tabu search has been developed to search for pressurized water reactor loading patterns (LPs). The tabu search is a heuristic procedure for solving optimization problems. To save computer time, a design target was defined, which is the value of the nuclear enthalpy rise hot-channel factor FH at each fuel assembly (FA) position for zero xenon concentration and zero exposure condition. When the values of FH of a trial LP satisfy the design target, this LP may meet the design limit at each exposure checkpoint for all rods-out and D-bank half-inserted conditions, which is the design requirement. The objective function was defined to search for an LP whose FH is smaller than the design target, i.e., a feasible LP. An initial LP is properly generated by using the heuristic rules. Then the LP is rearranged by exchanging FAs or rotating the FA, which is carried out by employing the simple tabu search. The heuristic rules were incorporated into the tabu search to generate the candidate moves so that the search was efficient. The program was demonstrated by successfully generating LPs for the Maanshan nuclear power plant in Taiwan.