ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Division Spotlight
Operations & Power
Members focus on the dissemination of knowledge and information in the area of power reactors with particular application to the production of electric power and process heat. The division sponsors meetings on the coverage of applied nuclear science and engineering as related to power plants, non-power reactors, and other nuclear facilities. It encourages and assists with the dissemination of knowledge pertinent to the safe and efficient operation of nuclear facilities through professional staff development, information exchange, and supporting the generation of viable solutions to current issues.
Meeting Spotlight
2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
May 2024
Jan 2024
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
June 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Securing the advanced reactor fleet
Physical protection accounts for a significant portion of a nuclear power plant’s operational costs. As the U.S. moves toward smaller and safer advanced reactors, similar protection strategies could prove cost prohibitive. For tomorrow’s small modular reactors and microreactors, security costs must remain appropriate to the size of the reactor for economical operation.
M. Nematollahi, M. Rezaiean
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 61 | Number 1 | January 2012 | Pages 174-177
Fission | Proceedings of the Fifteenth International Conference on Emerging Nuclear Energy Systems | doi.org/10.13182/FST12-A13416
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Using natural circulation as the primary core cooling mechanism in next generation nuclear reactors provides advantages such as improved safety, less operation and maintenance costs (because of elimination of pumps), and simplicity of system. Large scale deployment of natural circulation based reactors and safety systems depend on the successful resolution of the challenges specific to natural circulation such as driving force, system pressure drops, instability effects, and critical heat flux.In this work, natural circulation two-phase flow pressure drops in a single channel are studied experimentally. For this purpose, natural circulation hydrodynamic loop was designed. The overall pressure drop was measured by use of pressure transducer sensors and the void fraction in visible boxes which located at the end of heated tube is measured by use of high speed camera. The frictional and acceleration pressure drop are evaluated in different conditions from experimental data and corresponding theoretical formulas. The results could be useful in natural circulation based reactor design and computer codes validation.