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Division Spotlight
Thermal Hydraulics
The division provides a forum for focused technical dialogue on thermal hydraulic technology in the nuclear industry. Specifically, this will include heat transfer and fluid mechanics involved in the utilization of nuclear energy. It is intended to attract the highest quality of theoretical and experimental work to ANS, including research on basic phenomena and application to nuclear system design.
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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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Proving DRACO will deliver
The United States is now closer than it has been in over five decades to launching the first nuclear thermal rocket into space, thanks to DRACO—the Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Orbit.
M. Carta, A. D'Angelo
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 133 | Number 3 | November 1999 | Pages 282-292
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE99-A2088
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Accelerator-driven systems (ADS) for nuclear waste transmutation will periodically need absolutely calibrated measurements of the subcriticality level. These measurements will allow both the check of the subcriticality margin during the ADS operation life and the related comparison between the experimental and foreseen fuel cycle reactivity effect. Until now, the possibility of absolute (source-jerk-type) reactivity measurements, to be made just after external source breakoff, has been mentioned in ADS proposals.Complementary reactivity measurement techniques are investigated to analyze the ADS response to harmonic modulation of the external neutron source. The point-kinetics approximation is used to test the method by numerical simulations. To take into account spatial effects, a multimode case is finally investigated. Results show that in the case of ADS subcritical systems, the theory of an absolute "reactimeter" may be formulated. The need for explicit transport calculations, before any possible experimental validation, is also mentioned.