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Division members promote the advancement of mathematical and computational methods for solving problems arising in all disciplines encompassed by the Society. They place particular emphasis on numerical techniques for efficient computer applications to aid in the dissemination, integration, and proper use of computer codes, including preparation of computational benchmark and development of standards for computing practices, and to encourage the development on new computer codes and broaden their use.
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ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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General Kenneth Nichols and the Manhattan Project
Nichols
The Oak Ridger has published the latest in a series of articles about General Kenneth D. Nichols, the Manhattan Project, and the 1954 Atomic Energy Act. The series has been produced by Nichols’ grandniece Barbara Rogers Scollin and Oak Ridge (Tenn.) city historian David Ray Smith. Gen. Nichols (1907–2000) was the district engineer for the Manhattan Engineer District during the Manhattan Project.
As Smith and Scollin explain, Nichols “had supervision of the research and development connected with, and the design, construction, and operation of, all plants required to produce plutonium-239 and uranium-235, including the construction of the towns of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and Richland, Washington. The responsibility of his position was massive as he oversaw a workforce of both military and civilian personnel of approximately 125,000; his Oak Ridge office became the center of the wartime atomic energy’s activities.”
Ang Zhu, Yunlin Xu, Thomas Downar
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 182 | Number 4 | April 2016 | Pages 435-451
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE15-39
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Three-dimensional (3D), full-core transport modeling with pin-resolved detail for reactor dynamic simulation is important for some multiphysics reactor applications. However, it can be computationally intensive due to the difficulty in maintaining accuracy while minimizing the number of time steps. An innovative Predictor-Corrector Quasi-static Method (PCQM) is introduced that is based on a Transient MultiLevel (TML) methodology. Two levels of couplings are used between 3D-transport/3D-CMFD (coarse-mesh finite difference) and 3D-CMFD/EPKE (exact point-kinetics equation). In each level, the original flux equation is solved in the coarse predictor step and then is factorized as an amplitude and a shape function in the corrector step, where the predicted solution is adjusted using multiple fine steps. In the first-level 3D-transport/3D-CMFD coupling, the angular and subpin flux shape functions in the Boltzmann transport equation are assumed to vary slowly over time, and the CMFD cellwise amplitude function is solved using multiple steps by the 3D-CMFD transient equation. In the second level, the CMFD scalar flux calculated in the last step is further corrected by a whole-core-wise amplitude function generated by the EPKE solver. The utilization of hierarchical multilevel neutronics transient solvers achieves the goal to balance the numerical accuracy and computational efficiency. In addition, a new iteration scheme with pin-resolve thermal-hydraulic feedback and theoretical proof for the accuracy of PCQM are also presented. Finally, a stripe assembly case adopted from the SPERT (Special Power Excursion Reactor Test) transient tests is used to demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the TML method.