ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Division Spotlight
Education, Training & Workforce Development
The Education, Training & Workforce Development Division provides communication among the academic, industrial, and governmental communities through the exchange of views and information on matters related to education, training and workforce development in nuclear and radiological science, engineering, and technology. Industry leaders, education and training professionals, and interested students work together through Society-sponsored meetings and publications, to enrich their professional development, to educate the general public, and to advance nuclear and radiological science and engineering.
Meeting Spotlight
2024 ANS Winter Conference and Expo
November 17–21, 2024
Orlando, FL|Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Aug 2024
Jan 2024
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
October 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
August 2024
Latest News
New laws offer nuclear industry incentives for existing power plant uprates
This year, the U.S. nuclear industry received a much-needed economic boost that could help preserve operating nuclear power plants and incentivize upgrades that extend their lifespan and power output.
Signed into law in 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act offers production tax credits (PTCs) for existing nuclear power plants and either PTCs or investment tax credits (ITCs) for new carbon-free generation. These credits could make power uprates—increasing the maximum power level at which a commercial plant may operate—a much more appealing option for utilities.
J. P. Hennart, E. H. Mund
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 62 | Number 1 | January 1977 | Pages 55-68
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE77-A26939
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The solution of a two-dimensional elliptic boundary value problem with piecewise smooth external boundaries, interfaces, and diffusion coefficients typical of nuclear reactor structures is known to contain a singular part. The presence of singular functions in the neighborhood of each angular point for a given geometric configuration has important consequences on the convergence orders for approximate solutions of the problem. These consequences are analyzed both theoretically and numerically, in the framework of the finite element method Some means are described to overcome the damaging effects of the singular points. A thorough numerical study of various reactor configurations extending from liquid-metal fast breeder reactors to pressurized water reactors shows that in the latter case, the use of highorder polynomials is partially unjustified, given the severe limitations on the convergence orders.