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Division Spotlight
Operations & Power
Members focus on the dissemination of knowledge and information in the area of power reactors with particular application to the production of electric power and process heat. The division sponsors meetings on the coverage of applied nuclear science and engineering as related to power plants, non-power reactors, and other nuclear facilities. It encourages and assists with the dissemination of knowledge pertinent to the safe and efficient operation of nuclear facilities through professional staff development, information exchange, and supporting the generation of viable solutions to current issues.
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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How to talk about nuclear
In your career as a professional in the nuclear community, chances are you will, at some point, be asked (or volunteer) to talk to at least one layperson about the technology you know and love. You might even be asked to present to a whole group of nonnuclear folks, perhaps as a pitch to some company tangential to your company’s business. So, without further ado, let me give you some pointers on the best way to approach this important and surprisingly complicated task.
Matthew C. Cordaro, Martin S. Zucker
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 45 | Number 2 | August 1971 | Pages 107-116
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE71-A20878
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A computer-based method for treating the motion of charged and neutral particles called the phase space time evolution (PSTE) method has been developed. This technique, instead of utilizing the integrodifferential transport equation and solving it by computer methods, makes direct use of the computer by employing its bookkeeping capacity to literally keep track of the time development of a phase space distribution of particles. This method is applied in this paper to a study of electron transport. In this application use is made of the continuous slowing down approximation for energy degradation and the Goudsmit-Saunderson distribution for multiple scattering. The specific problem investigated considers a 1-MeV beam of electrons normally incident on a semi-infinite slab of aluminum. Results of the PSTE calculation for this problem are compared with existing Monte Carlo calculations and experimental results on the basis of number transmission, energy spectrum, and angular distribution as a function of penetration. The general agreement exhibited is good. In addition to the above, time-dependent PSTE electron penetration results for the same problem are presented. The computer time required to make the PSTE calculation discussed here was ≈ 10 min on the CDC-6600 computer at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Noteworthy is that during this small amount of machine time, the PSTE method generates both deterministic and time-dependent results.