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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
International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering (M&C 2025)
April 27–30, 2025
Denver, CO|The Westin Denver Downtown
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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Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
TerraPower begins U.K. regulatory approval process
Seattle-based TerraPower signaled its interest this week in building its Natrium small modular reactor in the United Kingdom, the company announced.
TerraPower sent a letter to the U.K.’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, formally establishing its intention to enter the U.K. generic design assessment (GDA) process. This is TerraPower’s first step in deployment of its Natrium technology—a 345-MW sodium fast reactor coupled with a molten salt energy storage unit—on the international stage.
D. W. Kneff, Harry Farrar IV, F. M. Mann, R. E. Schenter
Nuclear Technology | Volume 49 | Number 3 | August 1980 | Pages 498-503
Technical Note | Material | doi.org/10.13182/NT80-A17698
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Fast-neutron-induced total helium production cross sections can be determined from a combination of spectrum-integrated measurements and theoretical calculations. The calculations provide information on the energy-dependent cross-section shape that is generally unavailable from the limited experimental data. The measurements in turn provide a normalization for the calculations. In the present work, total helium production cross sections for copper and aluminum bombarded with ∼14.8-MeV neutrons from the T(d,n) reaction have been measured by high-sensitivity gas mass spectrometry, and independently calculated using the Hauser-Feshbach statistical model. The experimental results are 51 ± 3 mb for copper and 143 ± 7 mb for aluminum, with corresponding values of 50 and 139 mb obtained from the theoretical calculations. The agreement demonstrates that this statistical model has the potential to predict total helium production cross sections for fusion energy neutrons. Comparison of the experimental results with published cross-section evaluations for the primary Cu(n, α) and Al(n,α) reactions gives significant ∼25- and ∼28-mb helium production contributions, respectively, from reaction channels other than (n, α).