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Division Spotlight
Decommissioning & Environmental Sciences
The mission of the Decommissioning and Environmental Sciences (DES) Division is to promote the development and use of those skills and technologies associated with the use of nuclear energy and the optimal management and stewardship of the environment, sustainable development, decommissioning, remediation, reutilization, and long-term surveillance and maintenance of nuclear-related installations, and sites. The target audience for this effort is the membership of the Division, the Society, and the public at large.
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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Latest News
Vogtle-3 shuts down for valve issue
One of the new Vogtle units in Georgia was shut down unexpectedly on Monday last week for a valve issue that has since been investigated and repaired. According to multiple local news outlets, Georgia Power reported on July 17 that Unit 3 was back in service.
Southern Company spokesperson Jacob Hawkins confirmed that Vogtle-3 went off line at 9:25 p.m. local time on July 8 “due to lowering water levels in the steam generators caused by a valve issue on one of the three main feedwater pumps.”
Chan-Hyeong Kim, Siyoung Jang, Warren Dan Reece
Nuclear Technology | Volume 145 | Number 1 | January 2004 | Pages 1-10
Technical Paper | Fission Reactors | doi.org/10.13182/NT04-A3455
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Monte Carlo N-Particle (MCNP) code and a set of high-temperature neutron cross-section data were used to develop an accurate three-dimensional computational model of the Texas A&M University Nuclear Science Center Reactor (NSCR) at full power. The geometry of the reactor core was modeled as closely as possible including the details of all the fuel elements and control rods. The most significant approximation was made for entrained fission products because of the lack of knowledge of fission product inventory in the current reactor core. This study used the concept of "average fission product" to model the fission product in the reactor core and determined the concentration of the average fission product by repeating criticality calculations to make the reactor critical for a given critical condition. Finally, the developed model was tested by comparing the calculated results with those of other approaches, i.e., (a) an in-house three-dimensional diffusion code and (b) foil activation measurement. The developed reactor model showed a good agreement with these approaches. The developed model predicted the thermal neutron flux in samples within 11% of difference when compared with the results from the diffusion code and predicted the production of 198Au and 60Co within ~20% of difference when compared with the values measured with foils. The developed model also calculated the neutron energy spectrum very consistently with the other approaches for the entire energy range considered in this study.