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Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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Spent fuel transfer project completed at INL
Work crews at Idaho National Laboratory have transferred 40 spent nuclear fuel canisters into long-term storage vaults, the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management has reported.
D. D. Ebert, W. B. Terney, E. A. Williamson, Jr., N. R. Gomm
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 69 | Number 3 | March 1979 | Pages 398-410
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE79-A19958
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A method for developing maneuvering control strategies using optimal control theory is presented. A computer code, OPXENON, based on Pontryagin's Principle, has been written, tested, and applied to maneuvering control problems. It uses modified one-group diffusion theory with Doppler and moderator feedback, and is able to handle up to 20 mesh points in one dimension and 100 time steps. The neutronics have been verified by comparison with standard maneuvering codes, and the Euler-Lagrange solution has been verified by comparison to known optimization results. Convergence to the optimal or near-optimal control is obtained within a few iterations. The code is particularly useful when there are several conflicting performance criteria. It has been applied to the problem of minimizing the boron interchange during a pressurized water reactor maneuver while maintaining acceptable shapes.