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Division Spotlight
Thermal Hydraulics
The division provides a forum for focused technical dialogue on thermal hydraulic technology in the nuclear industry. Specifically, this will include heat transfer and fluid mechanics involved in the utilization of nuclear energy. It is intended to attract the highest quality of theoretical and experimental work to ANS, including research on basic phenomena and application to nuclear system design.
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.”
M. B. Chadwick, P. G. Young, S. Chiba, S. C. Frankle, G. M. Hale, H. G. Hughes, A. J. Koning, R. C. Little, R. E. MacFarlane, R. E. Prael, L. S. Waters
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 131 | Number 3 | March 1999 | Pages 293-328
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE98-48
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
New accelerator-driven technologies that utilize spallation neutrons, such as the production of tritium and the transmutation of radioactive waste, require accurate nuclear data to model the performance of the target/blanket assembly and to predict neutron production, activation, heating, shielding requirements, and material damage. To meet these needs, nuclear-data evaluations and libraries up to 150 MeV have been developed for use in transport calculations to guide engineering design. By using advanced nuclear models that account for details of nuclear structure and the quantum nature of the nuclear scattering, significant gains in accuracy can be achieved below 150 MeV, where intranuclear cascade calculations become less accurate. Evaluations are in ENDF-6 format for important target/blanket and shielding materials (isotopes of H, C, N, O, Al, Si, P, Ca, Cr, Fe, Ni, Cu, Nb, W, Hg, and Pb) for both incident neutrons and incident protons. The evaluations are based on measured data as well as predictions from the GNASH nuclear model code, which calculates cross sections using Hauser-Feshbach, exciton, and Feshbach-Kerman-Koonin preequilibrium models. Elastic scattering distributions and direct reactions are calculated from the optical model. All evaluations specify production cross sections and energy-angle correlated spectra of secondary light particles as well as production cross sections and energy distributions of heavy recoils and gamma rays. A formalism developed to calculate recoil energy distributions is presented. The use of these nuclear data in the MCNPX radiation transport code is also briefly described. This code merges essential elements of the LAHET and MCNP codes and uses these new data below 150 MeV and intranuclear cascade collision physics at higher energies. Extensive comparisons are shown between the evaluated results and experimental cross-section data to benchmark and validate the evaluated library. In addition, integral benchmarks of calculated and measured kerma coefficients for neutron energy deposition and neutron transmission through an iron slab compared with MCNPX calculations are provided. These evaluations have been accepted into the ENDF/B-VI library as Release 6.