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Division Spotlight
Fusion Energy
This division promotes the development and timely introduction of fusion energy as a sustainable energy source with favorable economic, environmental, and safety attributes. The division cooperates with other organizations on common issues of multidisciplinary fusion science and technology, conducts professional meetings, and disseminates technical information in support of these goals. Members focus on the assessment and resolution of critical developmental issues for practical fusion energy applications.
Meeting Spotlight
Utility Working Conference and Vendor Technology Expo (UWC 2024)
August 4–7, 2024
Marco Island, FL|JW Marriott Marco Island
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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Jul 2024
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Nuclear Science and Engineering
August 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
ARPA-E announces $40 million to develop transmutation technologies for UNF
The Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E) announced $40 million in funding to develop cutting-edge technologies to enable the transmutation of used nuclear fuel into less-radioactive substances. According to ARPA-E, the new initiative addresses one of the agency’s core goals as outlined by Congress: to provide transformative solutions to improve the management, cleanup, and disposal of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel.
Jack Galloway, Joshua Richard, Cetin Unal
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 196 | Number 1 | October 2022 | Pages S50-S62
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2022.2053488
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Versatile Test Reactor (VTR) is a sodium-cooled fast reactor designed to accelerate the design and approval of new nuclear material and reactor concepts by providing a high neutron fast flux environment on U.S. soil. To ensure that the reactor simultaneously achieves the target irradiation environment while maintaining sufficient margin to safety limits, supporting design analysis of the VTR has been performed using MCNP and TRACE. High-fidelity MCNP calculations have been performed that confirm design parameters, such as control rod worth and neutron and photon flux distributions, and provide needed reactivity coefficients for TRACE analyses. The MCNP simulations additionally provide fuel rod power profiles of interest to fuel performance designers and provide an excellent model for experimental cartridge design within the VTR core. TRACE simulations of several postulated transients, such as station blackout, loss of heat sink, and transient overpower, have been performed (results included here are limited to the transient overpower), and the obtained results confirm the robust safety behavior of the VTR. The TRACE simulations provide a valuable confirmatory transient analysis capability using a U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission–developed safety analysis tool incorporating inputs from the high-fidelity neutronic simulations performed with MCNP. Taken together, the confirmatory analysis capability provided by MCNP and TRACE serves to further strengthen the understanding of and confidence in the VTR’s performance.