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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.”
Edward W. Larsen, G. C. Pomraning
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 109 | Number 1 | September 1991 | Pages 49-75
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE91-A23844
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The PN theory is shown to be an asymptotic limit of transport theory for an optically thick planar-geometry system with small absorption and highly anisotropic scattering. The asymptotic analysis shows that the solution in the interior of the system is described by the standard PN equations for which initial, boundary, and interface conditions are determined by asymptotic initial, boundary layer, and interface layer calculations. The asymptotic initial, (reflecting) boundary, and interface conditions for the PN equations agree with conventional formulations. However, at a boundary having a prescribed incident flux, the asymptotic boundary layer analysis yields PN boundary conditions that differ from previous formulations. Numerical transport and PN results are presented to substantiate this asymptotic theory.