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Mathematics & Computation
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.
Meeting Spotlight
Conference on Nuclear Training and Education: A Biennial International Forum (CONTE 2025)
February 3–6, 2025
Amelia Island, FL|Omni Amelia Island Resort
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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Reboot: Nuclear needs a success . . . anywhere
The media have gleefully resurrected the language of a past nuclear renaissance. Beyond the hype and PR, many people in the nuclear community are taking a more measured view of conditions that could lead to new construction: data center demand, the proliferation of new reactor designs and start-ups, and the sudden ascendance of nuclear energy as the power source everyone wants—or wants to talk about.
Once built, large nuclear reactors can provide clean power for at least 80 years—outlasting 10 to 20 presidential administrations. Smaller reactors can provide heat and power outputs tailored to an end user’s needs. With all the new attention, are we any closer to getting past persistent supply chain and workforce issues and building these new plants? And what will the election of Donald Trump to a second term as president mean for nuclear?
As usual, there are more questions than answers, and most come down to money. Several developers are engaging with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission or have already applied for a license, certification, or permit. But designs without paying customers won’t get built. So where are the customers, and what will it take for them to commit?
Owen Leslie Deutsch, Brian Winston Murray
Nuclear Technology | Volume 26 | Number 3 | July 1975 | Pages 320-339
Technical Paper | Radioisotope | doi.org/10.13182/NT75-A24433
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The pathology of malignant brain tumors often precludes successful treatment by surgery and standard radiation therapy. Boron neutron-capture therapy consists of the selective loading of tumor with 10B and subsequent irradiation with a thermal or epithermal neutron field. The neutron-capture reaction 10B(n,α)7Li produces high-linear-energy-transfer-charged particles that deposit energy principally within the abnormal tissue that contains a high 10B concentration. Constraints on this therapy modality are imposed by radiation effects in normal tissue from thermal neutrons, neutron-induced gamma rays, fast-neutron and gamma-ray beam contaminants, and also from the 10B(n,α)7Li reactions in circulating blood. The ANDY general geometry Monte Carlo code is used to calculate the space-energy distribution of all pertinent components of the dose within a simple head phantom in an idealized therapy configuration at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Research Reactor. The effects of 10B concentration, gamma-ray contamination of the therapy beam, thermal neutron beam aperture, and surgically formed re-entrant cavities are examined with respect to several clinical criteria for therapeutic efficacy. It is found for the model considered that the maximum effective relaxation length for the thermal neutron fluence is 1.6 to 1.8 cm, which is 30 to 40% lower than the infinite medium relaxation length, and thereby indicates the importance of multidimensional boundary effects in this calculation. The fluence-depth characteristic was verified by an experimental irradiation of a tis-sue-equivalent head phantom with re-entrant cavityy and excellent agreement was observed between measured and calculated results. It was also found that the gamma-ray beam contaminant is not necessarily deleterious to therapeutic efficacy, that a larger aperture thermal neutron beam improves the dose field with respect to some criteria but at the expense of others, and that plausible size variations in the surgically formed cavity do not change the character of the dose field. As a further refinementy a Monte Carlo microdosimetry model is developed and applied to the problem of radiation effects on the cerebral microvasculature by 10B capture reactions in the circulating blood. Qualitative predictions of this model correlate positively with previous clinical experience.
