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Division Spotlight
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.
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.”
H. Hirayama, D. K. Trubey
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 99 | Number 2 | June 1988 | Pages 145-156
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE88-A23555
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The effects of including incoherent and coherent scattering in a calculation of the exposure buildup factors for plane normal gamma-ray sources have been investigated by using an electron-gamma-ray shower Monte Carlo code, EGS4, for water, iron, and lead in the 40- to 200-keV range. The “true” buildup factors and “pseudo” buildup factors for practical uses are defined to clarify the effects of bound-electron Compton (incoherent) and coherent scattering and are tabulated for penetration depths up to 10 mfp. The pseudo buildup factor increases by including incoherent scattering and decreases by including coherent scattering. The degree of each effect varies with the atomic number of the material. The effect of incoherent scattering is large for materials of small atomic number, and the effect of coherent scattering is large for materials of large atomic number.