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.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
Latest Magazine Issues
Feb 2026
Jul 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
March 2026
Nuclear Technology
February 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
January 2026
Latest News
Fusion energy: Progress, partnerships, and the path to deployment
Over the past decade, fusion energy has moved decisively from scientific aspiration toward a credible pathway to a new energy technology. Thanks to long-term federal support, we have significantly advanced our fundamental understanding of plasma physics—the behavior of the superheated gases at the heart of fusion devices. This knowledge will enable the creation and control of fusion fuel under conditions required for future power plants. Our progress is exemplified by breakthroughs at the National Ignition Facility and the Joint European Torus.
Byoung-Uhn Bae, Yong-Soo Kim, Goon-Cherl Park
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 154 | Number 1 | September 2006 | Pages 74-93
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE06-A2619
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
As a result of experiments with the Upper Plenum Test Facility and the 1400-MW(electric) Advanced Power Reactor (APR1400), sweepout in the downcomer has been identified as playing an important role in the depletion of the core coolant inventory during a large-break loss-of-coolant accident. In order to identify the sweepout mechanism and estimate the amount of coolant discharged during sweepout, separate-effects tests were performed in a rectangular-type test apparatus 1/5 the scale of the APR1400 downcomer. The experimental results showed that the sweepout was dominantly influenced by the hydraulic behaviors of coolant and steam near the intact cold leg. A sweepout model was developed by correlating the experimental results to analytically derived nondimensional parameters. The developed model showed applicability to the prototype, as the experimental results of the counterpart tests were in good agreement, within <25.0% of the uncertainty band.