ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
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Division Spotlight
Accelerator Applications
The division was organized to promote the advancement of knowledge of the use of particle accelerator technologies for nuclear and other applications. It focuses on production of neutrons and other particles, utilization of these particles for scientific or industrial purposes, such as the production or destruction of radionuclides significant to energy, medicine, defense or other endeavors, as well as imaging and diagnostics.
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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Nuclear Science and Engineering
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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.”
G. Ivan Maldonado, Paul J. Turinsky, David J. Kropaczek,Geoffrey T. Parks
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 121 | Number 2 | October 1995 | Pages 312-325
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE95-A28567
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The computer code FORMOSA-P (Fuel Optimization for Reloads Multiple Objectives by Simulated Annealing—PWR) has been developed to address pressurized water reactor (PWR) in-core nuclear fuel management optimization. Until recently, the optimization objectives available to the user included minimization of relative power peaking throughout the cycle, maximization of the end-of-cycle reactivity, and maximization of region-average discharge burnup. In addition, during an optimization, various core attributes (including the preceding objectives) can be optionally activated as constraints via penalty functions or to directly reject sampled loading patterns that violate established design limits. The underlying theoretical framework that enables the accurate and efficient calculation of objective and constraint values within the FORMOSA-P code is its higher order, nodal generalized perturbation theory (GPT) neutronics model. The utility of the FORMOSA-P code has been extended to include a traditionally out-of-core decision variable, namely, the fresh (i.e., feed) reload fuel enrichment. This is accomplished by formulating the feed enrichment as a GPT variable that can be adjusted concurrently with changes in the core loading pattern to enforce a target cycle length. This provides a reload designer with the capability to minimize feed enrichment during an in-core optimization while enforcing all other constraints (e.g., power peaking limit, cycle energy requirement, degree of eighth-core power tilt, discharge burnup limit, and moderator temperature coefficient limit).