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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!
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NRC updating GEIS rule for new nuclear technology
The Nuclear Regulatory Agency is issuing a proposed generic environmental impact statement (GEIS) for use in reviewing applications for new nuclear reactors.
In an April 17 memo, NRC secretary Carrie Safford wrote that the commission approved NRC staff’s recommendation to publish in the Federal Register a proposed rule amending 10 CFR Part 51, “Environmental Protection Regulations for Domestic Licensing and Related Regulatory Functions.”
Iztok Tiselj, Gregor Cerne
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 134 | Number 3 | March 2000 | Pages 306-311
Technical Note | doi.org/10.13182/NSE134-306
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The behavior of the RELAP5 code at very short time steps is described, i.e., t [approximately equal to] 0.01 x/c. First, the property of the RELAP5 code to trace acoustic waves with "almost" second-order accuracy is demonstrated. Quasi-second-order accuracy is usually achieved for acoustic waves at very short time steps but can never be achieved for the propagation of nonacoustic temperature and void fraction waves. While this feature may be beneficial for the simulations of fast transients describing pressure waves, it also has an adverse effect: The lack of numerical diffusion at very short time steps can cause typical second-order numerical oscillations near steep pressure jumps. This behavior explains why an automatic halving of the time step, which is used in RELAP5 when numerical difficulties are encountered, in some cases leads to the failure of the simulation.Second, the integration of the stiff interphase exchange terms in RELAP5 is studied. For transients with flashing and/or rapid condensation as the main phenomena, results strongly depend on the time step used. Poor accuracy is achieved with "normal" time steps (t [approximately equal to] x/v) because of the very short characteristic timescale of the interphase mass and heat transfer sources. In such cases significantly different results are predicted with very short time steps because of the more accurate integration of the stiff interphase exchange terms.