Title:

Beyond multigroup: An alternative for the energy treatment in radiation transport

Speaker:

Dr. Benoit Forget

Affiliation:

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

When:

Thursday, November 4, 2010 at 11:00:00 AM   Add to Calendar

Where:

Boggs Building, Room 3-47 (3rd flr)

Host:

Dr. Farzad Rahnema
farzad.rahnema@me.gatech.edu
404-894-3731

Abstract

Neutron cross-sections exhibit very strong energy dependence due to the resonant nature of the reactions. To accurately model this behavior in nuclear reactors, multigroup theory was developed with the use of a multilevel approach in which many approximations of the local boundary conditions must be made as we increase the size of the problem. In current and past generation reactors, this methodology, with the help of many experimental studies, has been proven to work quite well. However, with the ever increasing heterogeneity of the designs and the lack of experimental facilities for new designs, limitations of this approach are being exposed. This seminar will present a generalization of the multigroup methodology and some current research directions that seem promising in improving the multilevel approach or potentially removing the need for it.

Biography

Prof. Benoit Forget is currently an Assistant Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He graduated from École Polytechnique de Montréal with a B.Eng in Chemical Enginering and a M.Eng in Energy Engineering in 2003. He then completed a PhD in Nuclear Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2006. He spent one year at the Idaho National Laboratory working in the nuclear fuel cycle and reactor physic methods groups, before joining MIT in January of 2008. He currently serves as the Vice-Chair of the Reactor Physics Division of the American Nuclear Society.

Notes

Refreshments will be served.