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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!
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April 2024
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February 2024
Latest News
Can hydrogen be the transportation fuel in an otherwise nuclear economy?
Let’s face it: The global economy should be powered primarily by nuclear power. And it probably will by the end of this century, with a still-significant assist from renewables and hydro. Once nuclear systems are dominant, the costs come down to where gas is now; and when carbon emissions are reduced to a small portion of their present state, it will become obvious that most other sources are only good in niche settings. I mean, why use small modular reactors to load-follow when they can just produce that power instead of buffering it?
Blair P. Bromley, Geoffrey W. R. Edwards, Pranavan Sambavalingam
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 182 | Number 3 | March 2016 | Pages 263-286
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE15-19
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Lattice and core physics modeling and calculations have been performed to quantify the impact of power/flux levels and power history on the reactivity and achievable burnup for 35-element fuel bundles made with thorium-based fuels, such as (Pu,Th)O2 and (233U,Th)O2. These bundles are designed to produce on the order of 20 MWd/kg burnup in homogeneous cores in a 700-MW(electric)–class pressure-tube heavy water reactor, operating on a once-through thorium cycle. Methods have been developed to model time-dependent power histories in lattice physics calculations that are more consistent with core physics analysis results. Results demonstrate that the impact of power/flux level and the modeling of time-dependent power histories on the core power distributions and achievable fuel burnup are modest for Pu/Th fuels but are more significant for 233U/Th fuels. Thus, to reduce the neutron capture rate in 233Pa and to increase fuel burnup and fissile utilization, there may be an incentive to develop solutions to reduce the time-average specific power in the fuel.