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Aerospace Nuclear Science & Technology
Organized to promote the advancement of knowledge in the use of nuclear science and technologies in the aerospace application. Specialized nuclear-based technologies and applications are needed to advance the state-of-the-art in aerospace design, engineering and operations to explore planetary bodies in our solar system and beyond, plus enhance the safety of air travel, especially high speed air travel. Areas of interest will include but are not limited to the creation of nuclear-based power and propulsion systems, multifunctional materials to protect humans and electronic components from atmospheric, space, and nuclear power system radiation, human factor strategies for the safety and reliable operation of nuclear power and propulsion plants by non-specialized personnel and more.
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ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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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
Crash Course: The DOE’s Package Performance Demonstration
Inspired by a history of similar testing endeavors and recommended by the National Academy of Sciences and the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future, the Department of Energy is planning to conduct physical demonstrations on rail-sized spent nuclear fuel transportation casks. As part of the project, called the Spent Nuclear Fuel Package Performance Demonstration (PPD), the DOE is considering a number of demonstrations based on regulatory tests and realistic transportation scenarios, including collisions, drops, exposure to fire, and immersion in water.
Balazs Molnar, Gabor Tolnai, David Legrady
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 190 | Number 1 | April 2018 | Pages 56-72
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2017.1413876
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A novel particle tracking framework is introduced in this paper that utilizes null-collisions to sample distance to collision in Monte Carlo particle transport problems. The sampling process is described in the most general form as it covers all of the main developments concerning the Woodcock method (delta tracking). We show that none of the previously suggested modifications are optimal in terms of either variance or efficiency. Variance analysis is provided for a general transport problem along with the estimation of computational cost. Simplified models with analytic solutions are further investigated and propositions for optimal settings are discussed based on the derived equations. A well-known variance reduction technique, exponential transform, is found to be a limiting case of the biased Woodcock tracking method and comparison shows the proposed framework may outperform the exponential transform in real-case scenarios.