Friday, April 11, 12:00 PM (C215 ESC)
Nuclear Reactor Physics and The Neo-Renaissance of Nuclear Energy Nuclear energy is facing a "Neo-Renaissance," with increased interest and demand worldwide in utilizing nuclear powerplants for electricity production. For the first time in recent years, electricity demand around the globe is set to surge due to artificial intelligence power requirements, increasing number of data centers, and manufacturing growth. Due to the low carbon emissions and high reliability of nuclear power, private companies and countries around the world are turning to nuclear power to satisfty the increased electricity demand. In this talk, I will briefly summarize the fundamental principles of nuclear reactor analysis and reactor physics, including important nuclear processes, neutron cross sections, and the neutron transport equation. I will discuss both the stochastic (Monte Carlo) and deterministic (discrete ordinates) computational methods used to solve the neutron transport equation while highlighting several research projects completed during my PhD research. Finally, I will discuss the need and opportunity for physics students to contribute to the rapidly evolving nuclear engineering field