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Division Spotlight
Isotopes & Radiation
Members are devoted to applying nuclear science and engineering technologies involving isotopes, radiation applications, and associated equipment in scientific research, development, and industrial processes. Their interests lie primarily in education, industrial uses, biology, medicine, and health physics. Division committees include Analytical Applications of Isotopes and Radiation, Biology and Medicine, Radiation Applications, Radiation Sources and Detection, and Thermal Power Sources.
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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February 2025
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Latest News
IAEA’s nuclear security center offers hands-on training
In the past year and a half, the International Atomic Energy Agency has established the Nuclear Security Training and Demonstration Center (NSTDC) to help countries strengthen their nuclear security regimes. The center, located at the IAEA’s Seibersdorf laboratories outside Vienna, Austria, has been operational since October 2023.
Aaron M. Graham, Benjamin S. Collins, Thomas J. Downar
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 193 | Number 6 | June 2019 | Pages 601-621
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2018.1550988
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The MPACT code is being jointly developed by the University of Michigan and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. It uses the 2-D/1-D method to solve neutron transport problems for reactors. The 2-D/1-D method decomposes the problem into a stack of 2-D planes and uses a high-fidelity transport method to resolve all heterogeneity in each plane. These planes are then coupled axially, using a lower-order solver. With this scheme, three-dimensional (3-D) solutions to the transport equation can be obtained at a much lower cost. The 2-D/1-D method assumes that the materials are axially homogeneous for each 2-D plane. Violation of this assumption requires homogenization, which can significantly reduce the accuracy of the calculation. This paper presents the subray method of characteristics (subray MOC) as a solution to this problem. Subray MOC is a subgrid method that allows local heterogeneities to be directly resolved by method of characteristics while treating the rest of the 2-D plane as axially uniform. This improves the accuracy in the neighborhood of the heterogeneity while minimizing the increase in run time. The method was applied to variations of the C5G7 benchmark problems and compared with a previously developed subgrid method called the subplane collision probabilities (SCP) method. Comparisons were made among results obtained using subray MOC, the SCP method, and no subgrid method. Subray MOC consistently performed best, reducing maximum 3-D power distribution errors from as high as 30% to 2% or less. Furthermore, it consistently outperformed the SCP method with run times that were shorter than the reference calculations.