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
Mar 2026
Jan 2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
March 2026
Nuclear Technology
February 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
April 2026
Latest News
NN Asks: What hurdles stand in the way of nuclear power’s global expansion?
Jake Jurewicz
Nuclear technology is mature. It provides firm power at scale with minimal externalities and has done so for decades. The core problem isn’t about the technology—it is how the plants are built. Nuclear construction has a well-documented history of cost and schedule overruns. Previous nuclear plants often spent more than twice what was first budgeted, making nuclear among the power technologies with the largest average cost overruns worldwide.
Recent projects illustrate how severe the problem can be. In South Carolina, the V.C. Summer nuclear expansion saw projected costs rise from roughly $10 billion to more than $25 billion before the project was abandoned in 2017, by which time more than $9 billion had already been spent and customers were stuck paying for a site they have yet to benefit from.
Joel L. McDuffee, Arthur E. Ruggles
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 125 | Number 2 | February 1997 | Pages 232-242
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE97-A24270
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A model is presented for predicting the pressure gradient in partially developed subcooled boiling of water for velocities from 15 to 30 m/s and inlet peaked, nonuniform axial flux profiles with channel average flux values of 6 MW/m2. The partially and fully developed boiling regions are considered separately, however; the same general modeling technique is used for both. Several correlations for the void fraction at onset of significant void are considered, and their effect on the channel pressure drop is evaluated. The effect of nonuniform axial heat flux on the channel pressure drop is also evaluated. The model is compared with pressure drop data from the thermal-hydraulic test loop at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and is found to agree with the data within 24%.
