A GRADUATE STUDENT PERSPECTIVE ON FUTURE RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES IN REACTOR PHYSICS

摘要

The current state of the art in reactor physics represents a long period of successful methods and coderndevelopment. Today, the fuel pin powers in a light water reactor can be predicted within a few per centrnof measured data. This is a significant engineering achievement and reactor physicists can take pride inrntheir accomplishments.rnThe new generation of reactor physicists often hear that the field has matured and that there are very fewrnnew areas to be explored. Obviously this can be discouraging for someone currently in a PhD reactorrnphysics program at a US University. However, there do remain several important new issues in reactorrnphysics, particularly in light of recent DOE interest in advanced reactor core designs and new fuel types.rnSeveral of the proposed new designs (e.g. seed blanket thorium fuel lattices, MOX fueled cores) are veryrnheterogeneous and present challenges for the current generation of reactor physics methods. Researchrnopportunities will include new methods that eliminate or at least mitigate homogenization, collapsing,rnand transport errors in modern nodal methods used to analyze heterogeneous core designs.rnThe recent US interest in best estimate reactor analysis has also created several research opportunities inrncomputational reactor physics. Future safety analysis will be performed with coupled systems thermalhydraulicsrnand neutronics codes. The recent OECD PWR Main Steam Line Break benchmark problemrnhas demonstrated the potential for recovering safety margin through best estimate analysis. However,rnthe computational feasibility of coupled code analysis as part of reload licensing will depend on reducingrnthe computational burden for coupled field calculations. New research in this area will include bothrnadvanced numerical methods as well as high performance computing.rnThe field of reactor physics has matured and courses in reactor physics are currently a key part of therngraduate curriculum in most nuclear engineering departments. While many of the fundamental issuesrnrelated to reactor physics appear to have been adequately addressed, new core designs and new fuel typesrnpresent new challenges and provide fertile ground for current and future PhD research in reactor physics.