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Aerospace Nuclear Science & Technology
Organized to promote the advancement of knowledge in the use of nuclear science and technologies in the aerospace application. Specialized nuclear-based technologies and applications are needed to advance the state-of-the-art in aerospace design, engineering and operations to explore planetary bodies in our solar system and beyond, plus enhance the safety of air travel, especially high speed air travel. Areas of interest will include but are not limited to the creation of nuclear-based power and propulsion systems, multifunctional materials to protect humans and electronic components from atmospheric, space, and nuclear power system radiation, human factor strategies for the safety and reliable operation of nuclear power and propulsion plants by non-specialized personnel and more.
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2024 ANS Winter Conference and Expo
November 17–21, 2024
Orlando, FL|Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld
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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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Demolition work continues near former Hanford processing facility
Workers with the Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management’s contractor Central Plateau Cleanup Company recently demolished the Reduction Oxidation Plant, one of five former plutonium production facilities at the Hanford Site in Washington state.
Arkal Shenoy, John Saurwein, Malcolm Labar, Hankwon Choi, John Cosmopoulos
Nuclear Technology | Volume 178 | Number 2 | May 2012 | Pages 170-185
Technical Paper | Small Modular Reactors / Fission Reactors | doi.org/10.13182/NT12-A13558
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) project is being conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to demonstrate the technical and licensing viability of high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) technology as a CO2 emission-free source of energy to displace the use of natural gas, petroleum, and coal for production of electricity and/or high-temperature process energy for a wide range of industrial applications. The DOE selected the HTGR as the reactor type for the NGNP project primarily because HTGRs can produce heat energy at much higher temperatures than other reactor types due to their use of ceramic, coated-particle fuel, helium coolant, and graphite as the core structural material. The DOE is considering a number of candidate HTGR designs for the NGNP demonstration plant; the DOE or a DOE-industry partnership will ultimately select the design to be licensed and constructed.The HTGR design option being advanced by General Atomics for the NGNP demonstration plant, and for follow-on commercial deployment, is the Steam Cycle Modular Helium Reactor (SC-MHR). The SC-MHR, which is the subject of this paper, uses fuel elements in the form of hexagonal blocks, which are stacked together to form the reactor core. This type of HTGR is referred to as a prismatic HTGR, as opposed to a pebble bed HTGR, which uses billiard ball-size spherical fuel elements. The above-noted generic features of HTGRs coupled with the modular helium reactor design features of the SC-MHR allow for adequate removal of residual heat from the reactor by completely passive means in the event of a loss of forced cooling or loss of coolant pressure. This ensures that the fuel remains below time-at-temperature limits at which fuel damage could occur during such events, thereby ensuring radionuclide retention within the fuel particles. Thus, the safety of the SC-MHR (as well as other modular HTGR designs) is inherent to the design, and the rare, but severe, accidents postulated for light water reactors and other advanced nuclear concepts are not possible with the SC-MHR.It is anticipated that design, licensing, and construction of the SC-MHR demonstration plant could potentially be completed to enable plant operations to begin in 2022.