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Division members promote the advancement of mathematical and computational methods for solving problems arising in all disciplines encompassed by the Society. They place particular emphasis on numerical techniques for efficient computer applications to aid in the dissemination, integration, and proper use of computer codes, including preparation of computational benchmark and development of standards for computing practices, and to encourage the development on new computer codes and broaden their use.
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2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
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Glass strategy: Hanford’s enhanced waste glass program
The mission of the Department of Energy’s Office of River Protection (ORP) is to complete the safe cleanup of waste resulting from decades of nuclear weapons development. One of the most technologically challenging responsibilities is the safe disposition of approximately 56 million gallons of radioactive waste historically stored in 177 tanks at the Hanford Site in Washington state.
ORP has a clear incentive to reduce the overall mission duration and cost. One pathway is to develop and deploy innovative technical solutions that can advance baseline flow sheets toward higher efficiency operations while reducing identified risks without compromising safety. Vitrification is the baseline process that will convert both high-level and low-level radioactive waste at Hanford into a stable glass waste form for long-term storage and disposal.
Although vitrification is a mature technology, there are key areas where technology can further reduce operational risks, advance baseline processes to maximize waste throughput, and provide the underpinning to enhance operational flexibility; all steps in reducing mission duration and cost.
J. P. Lestone, M. D. Rosen, P. Adsley
Nuclear Technology | Volume 207 | Number 1 | December 2021 | Pages S352-S355
Technical Note | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2021.1909372
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
During the Manhattan Project, a simple formula was developed by Bethe and Feynman in 1943 to estimate the yield of a fission-only nuclear explosion of a uniformly dense bare sphere of supercritical fissile material. We have not found any evidence that Bethe and Feynman knew of the first yield formula obtained by Frisch and Peierls contained within their famous March 1940 memorandum. Similarly, we have not found any technical documents that compare the Bethe-Feynman formula to the earlier works of Frisch and Peierls or Serber. After adjusting for differences in the labeling of critical radii, we find that earlier formulas only differ by a scaling factor.