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Division Spotlight
Reactor Physics
The division's objectives are to promote the advancement of knowledge and understanding of the fundamental physical phenomena characterizing nuclear reactors and other nuclear systems. The division encourages research and disseminates information through meetings and publications. Areas of technical interest include nuclear data, particle interactions and transport, reactor and nuclear systems analysis, methods, design, validation and operating experience and standards. The Wigner Award heads the awards program.
Meeting Spotlight
2024 ANS Winter Conference and Expo
November 17–21, 2024
Orlando, FL|Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld
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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Latest News
NRC restores expiration dates for renewed Turkey Point licenses
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced this week that it has restored the expiration dates of the Turkey Point nuclear power plant's units 3 and 4 subsequent license renewals (SLR) to July 19, 2052, and April 10, 2053, respectively.
Chang H. Oh, Richard L. Moore
Nuclear Technology | Volume 149 | Number 3 | March 2005 | Pages 324-336
Technical Paper | Thermal Hydraulics | doi.org/10.13182/NT05-A3599
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This paper describes research on improving the Brayton cycle efficiency for a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR). In this study, we are investigating the efficiency of an indirect helium Brayton cycle for the power conversion side of an HTGR power plant. A reference case based on a 250-MW(thermal) pebble bed HTGR was developed using helium gas as a working fluid in both the primary and power conversion sides. The commercial computer code HYSYS was used for process optimization. A numerical model using the Visual-Basic (V-B) computer language was also developed to assist in the evaluation of the Brayton cycle efficiency. Results from both the HYSYS simulation and the V-B model were compared with Japanese calculations based on the 300-MW(electric) Gas Turbine High-Temperature Reactor (GTHTR) that was developed by the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute. After benchmarking our models, parametric investigations were performed to see the effect of important parameters on the cycle efficiency. We also investigated single-shaft versus multiple-shaft arrangements for the turbomachinery. The results from this study are applicable to other reactor concepts such as fast gas-cooled reactors, supercritical water reactors, and others.The ultimate goal of this study is to use other fluids such as supercritical carbon dioxide for the HTGR power conversion loop in order to improve the cycle efficiency over that of the helium Brayton cycle. This study is in progress, and the results will be published in a subsequent paper.