ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
Latest Magazine Issues
Mar 2026
Jan 2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
April 2026
Nuclear Technology
February 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
60 Years of U: Perspectives on resources, demand, and the evolving role of nuclear energy
Recent years have seen growing global interest in nuclear energy and rising confidence in the sector. For the first time since the early 2000s, there is renewed optimism about the industry’s future. This change is driven by several major factors: geopolitical developments that highlight the need for secure energy supplies, a stronger focus on resilient energy systems, national commitments to decarbonization, and rising demand for clean and reliable electricity.
Yoshiki Oshima, Tomohiro Endo, Akio Yamamoto
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 196 | Number 4 | April 2022 | Pages 379-394
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2021.1982549
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The convergence performance of nonlinear acceleration methods for the method of characteristics (MOC) with flat source (FS) approximation (FS MOC) or linear source (LS) approximation (LS MOC) is numerically investigated by focusing on the spatial and angular approximations in the acceleration calculations. The convergence of nonlinear acceleration depends on the consistency of the calculation models between the higher-order and lower-order (acceleration) methods. The convergence of four acceleration methods is evaluated to clarify the relationship between model consistency and convergence performance. These methods consist of FS or LS for the spatial source distribution and P1 or discrete angle for the angular distribution, i.e., (1) FS analytic coarse mesh finite difference (ACMFD) acceleration (FS ACMFD), (2) LS ACMFD, (3) FS angular-dependent discontinuity factor MOC (ADMOC) acceleration (FS ADMOC), and (4) LS ADMOC. The ACMFD and ADMOC accelerations are based on P1 and discrete angle approximations, respectively. The FS MOC and LS MOC are considered higher-order methods. The FS MOC and LS MOC with five acceleration methods, i.e., the aforementioned four acceleration methods and the conventional coarse mesh finite difference acceleration method, are used to perform fixed-source calculations in one-group one-dimensional homogeneous slab geometry, and the spectral radii are numerically evaluated. The numerical results indicate that (1) the nonlinear acceleration methods that are unconditionally stable for FS MOC also show similar convergence properties for LS MOC in one-dimensional slab geometry; (2) better convergence is observed when the consistency of higher- and lower-order models is high; and (3) when a coarse mesh is optically thick, the spatial homogenization degrades the convergence performance, even if spatial and angular approximations are consistent between the higher- and lower-order models.