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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.”
Chonghai Cai, Qingbiao Shen, Yizhong Zhuo
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 109 | Number 2 | October 1991 | Pages 142-149
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE91-A28513
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The chi-square (χ2) values, which represent the degree of agreement between the calculated total, nonelastic, and differential elastic cross sections and their experimental values, are calculated for seven kinds of optical potentials: the phenomenological optimal optical potential (OOP) for a specific element, the global phenomenological optical potentials given by Becchetti and Greenlees (BGP) and by Varner et al. (CH86) for a large number of target nuclei, and the microscopic optical potentials based on conventional Skyrme force (SII and SIII), generalized Skyrme force (GS2), and modified Skyrme force (SKa). Fourteen natural elements (each containing one to four isotopes) are calculated with 12 to 20 neutron incident energies, which are in the 0.1- to 24-MeV energy region for each element. The calculated average total chi-square values are = 0.309, = 0.807, = 0.684 = 0.600, = 0.646, = 2.587, and = 1–368. The conclusion is that the microscopic optical potential based on generalized and modified Skyrme force (GS2 and SKa), which has an analytical formalism without any free parameters, is useful in nuclear data calculation and evaluation.