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Reactor Physics
The division's objectives are to promote the advancement of knowledge and understanding of the fundamental physical phenomena characterizing nuclear reactors and other nuclear systems. The division encourages research and disseminates information through meetings and publications. Areas of technical interest include nuclear data, particle interactions and transport, reactor and nuclear systems analysis, methods, design, validation and operating experience and standards. The Wigner Award heads the awards program.
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2024 ANS Winter Conference and Expo
November 17–21, 2024
Orlando, FL|Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld
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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New laws offer nuclear industry incentives for existing power plant uprates
This year, the U.S. nuclear industry received a much-needed economic boost that could help preserve operating nuclear power plants and incentivize upgrades that extend their lifespan and power output.
Signed into law in 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act offers production tax credits (PTCs) for existing nuclear power plants and either PTCs or investment tax credits (ITCs) for new carbon-free generation. These credits could make power uprates—increasing the maximum power level at which a commercial plant may operate—a much more appealing option for utilities.
David Chandler, R. T. Primm III, G. Ivan Maldonado
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 164 | Number 1 | January 2010 | Pages 53-68
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE09-03
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The mission of the Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors Program is to minimize and, to the extent possible, eliminate the use of highly enriched uranium (HEU) in civilian nuclear applications by working to convert research and test reactors, as well as radioisotope production processes, to low-enriched uranium (LEU) fuel and targets. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is currently reviewing the design bases and key operating criteria including fuel operating parameters, enrichment-related safety analyses, fuel performance, and fuel fabrication in regard to converting the fuel of the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) from HEU to LEU.The purpose of this study is to validate Monte Carlo methods currently in use for conversion analyses. The methods have been validated for the prediction of flux values in the reactor target, reflector, and beam tubes, but this study focuses on the prediction of the power density profile in the core. Power distributions were calculated in the fuel elements of the HFIR, a research reactor at ORNL, via MCNP and were compared to experimentally obtained data. This study was performed to validate Monte Carlo methods for power density calculations and to observe biases.A current three-dimensional MCNP model was modified to replicate the 1965 HFIR Critical Experiment 3 (HFIRCE-3). In this experiment, the power profile was determined by counting the gamma activity at selected locations in the core. “Foils” (chunks of fuel meat and clad) were punched out of the fuel elements in HFIRCE-3 following irradiation, and experimental relative power densities were obtained by measuring the activity of these foils and comparing each foil's activity to the activity of a normalizing foil.This analysis consisted of calculating corresponding activities by inserting volume tallies into the modified MCNP model to represent the punchings. The average fission density was calculated for each foil location and then normalized to the reference foil. Power distributions were obtained for clean core (no poison in moderator and symmetrical rod position at 44.536 cm withdrawn with respect to the core axial midplane) and fully poisoned moderator (1.35 grams of boron per liter in moderator and rods fully withdrawn) conditions. The observed deviations between the experimental and calculated values for both conditions were within the reported experimental uncertainties except for some foils located on the top and bottom edges of the fuel plates.