Abstract
High-fidelity nuclear data are essential to a broad range of applications in nuclear non-proliferation, radioisotope production, and fundamental nuclear science research and are critical to the design, licensing, and operation of next-generation fission and fusion reactors.
Ongoing advances in computational power have greatly enhanced the accuracy of modeling and simulation tools, leaving nuclear data as a primary source of discrepancy between computational predictions and experimental measurements. Sensitivity and uncertainty analysis methods have found extensive use in criticality safety and reactor physics applications for quantifying the impact of nuclear data uncertainty, designing representative benchmark experiments, predicting computational biases, and guiding the calibration of uncertain nuclear data.
This presentation will discuss modern continuous-energy, adjoint-weighted sensitivity analysis methods, will highlight several applications of these methods, and will discuss ongoing work to expand the areas of application for high-resolution sensitivity analysis.
Bio
Christopher Perfetti, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
University of New Mexico
Dr. Christopher Perfetti is an Associate Professor in the Nuclear Engineering Department at the University of New Mexico. Prior to his appointment at UNM, Chris was an R&D scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where he served as the Sensitivity and Uncertainty Analysis Method Team Lead for the SCALE Code Package.
Chris received B.S. and M.S. degrees in nuclear and radiological engineering from the University of Florida in 2007 and 2008, respectively, and his Ph.D. in nuclear engineering from the University of Michigan in 2012. His research interests include sensitivity and uncertainty analysis method development, Monte Carlo method development, advanced reactor design, nuclear criticality safety, radioisotope production, and radiation shielding.
Chris has served as the Chair of the American Nuclear Society’s Reactor Physics Division, Chair of the Alpha Nu Sigma National Honor Society, Chair of the Trinity (NM) ANS Local Section, and Chair of the Oak Ridge/Knoxville ANS Local Section. He currently serves as the Secretary of the ANS Education, Training, and Workforce Development Division, as the Chair of the Adult Education Committee for the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History, and as the General Chair of the upcoming M&C2025 topical meeting.
In his free time, Chris enjoys cycling, hiking, and taking his daughters to museums.