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Division Spotlight
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.
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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NRC engineers share their expertise at the University of Puerto Rico
Robert Roche-Rivera and Marcos Rolón-Acevedo are licensed professional engineers who work at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. They are also alumni of the University of Puerto Rico–Mayagüez (UPRM) and have been sharing their knowledge and experience with students at their alma mater since last year, serving as adjunct professors in the university’s Department of Mechanical Engineering. During the 2023–2024 school year, they each taught two courses: Fundamentals of Nuclear Science and Engineering, and Nuclear Power Plant Engineering.
B. Michel, C. Nonon, J. Sercombe, F. Michel, V. Marelle
Nuclear Technology | Volume 182 | Number 2 | May 2013 | Pages 124-137
Technical Paper | Special Issue on the Symposium on Radiation Effects in Ceramic Oxide and Novel LWR Fuels / Fuel Cycle and Management | doi.org/10.13182/NT13-A16424
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This paper focuses on the PLEIADES fuel performance software environment and its application to the modeling of pellet-cladding interaction (PCI). The PLEIADES platform has been under development for 10 yr; a unified software environment, including the multidimensional finite element solver CAST3M, has been used to develop eight computation schemes now under operation. Among the latter, the ALCYONE application is devoted to pressurized water reactor fuel rod behavior. This application provides a three-dimensional (3-D) model for a detailed analysis of fuel element behavior and enables validation through comparing simulation and postirradiation examination results (cladding residual diameter and ridges, dishing filling, pellet cracking, etc.). These last years the 3-D computation scheme of the ALCYONE application has been enriched with a complete set of physical models to take into account thermomechanical and chemical-physical behavior of the fuel element under irradiation. These models have been validated through the ALCYONE application on a large experimental database composed of approximately 400 study cases. The strong point of the ALCYONE application concerns the local approach of stress-corrosion-cracking rupture under PCI, which can be computed with the 3-D finite element solver.Further developments for PCI modeling in the PLEIADES platform are devoted to a new mesh refinement method for assessing stress-and-strain concentration (multigrid technique) and a new component for assessing fission product chemical recombination.