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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.
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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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Four million nuclear jobs by 2050: Who will do them?
Industry leaders from around the globe met this month to discuss the talent development that will be necessary for the long-term success of the nuclear industry.
The International Conference on Nuclear Knowledge Management and Human Resources Development, hosted by the International Atomic Energy Agency, was held in Vienna earlier this month. Discussed there was the agency’s forecast for nuclear capacity to more than double—or hopefully triple—by 2050 and the requirement of more than four million professionals to support the industry.
Nicholas T. Saltos, Tunc Aldemir, Richard N. Christensen
Nuclear Technology | Volume 82 | Number 2 | August 1988 | Pages 187-210
Technical Paper | Nuclear Fuel | doi.org/10.13182/NT88-A34107
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An efficient variational method was developed to solve the transient radial-azimuthal heat conduction problem in nuclear fuel rods under loss-of-coolant-accident (LOCA) conditions. The method is efficient in that it is fast, accurate, and compatible with the modular accident analysis codes already in use in the nuclear industry. The methodology uses the Lebon-Labermont restricted variational principle, with parabolic trial functions in the radial direction and circular trial functions in the azimuthal direction, to reduce the transient heat conduction problem in the rod to a set of first-order ordinary differential equations in time. These equations are then solved by an explicit technique. The solution is in a readily usable form (i.e., averages and gradients can be determined without interpolation) and the same algorithm is used for both one- and two-dimensional problems. The solution technique allows changing the trial functions at every time step to obtain an accurate solution with minimum computing time. The methodology is implemented for a single rod under hypothetical LOCA conditions in order to (a) investigate the sensitivity of the predicted radial-azimuthal temperature distributions to the choice of the trial functions, (b) investigate the importance of nonlinearity effects (i.e., temperature dependence of thermal properties) on rod response, and (c) compare the variational and finite difference techniques with respect to computation time and accuracy of the results. It is shown that the variational technique leads to substantial reduction in computing time (more than a factor of 3) for comparable accuracy.