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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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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.
Daniel K. Butler
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 52 | Number 4 | December 1973 | Pages 492-494
Technical Note | doi.org/10.13182/NSE73-A23319
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The mathematical difficulties that arise when discontinuous trial functions are substituted into functionals appropriate for continuous functions are investigated by formulating the problem in terms of the mathematically acceptable properties of step functions and their derivatives. The expectable mathematical difficulties are shown to appear in the form of integrals that do not have mathematically defined values. The difficulties can be averted by replacing the integrals with approximate expressions which yield the familiar expressions for coupling across discontinuities. The problem of overdetermining the coupling coefficients appears to be avoidable by consistent application of the approximation.
