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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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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Powering the future: How the DOE is fueling nuclear fuel cycle research and development
As global interest in nuclear energy surges, the United States must remain at the forefront of research and development to ensure national energy security, advance nuclear technologies, and promote international cooperation on safety and nonproliferation. A crucial step in achieving this is analyzing how funding and resources are allocated to better understand how to direct future research and development. The Department of Energy has spearheaded this effort by funding hundreds of research projects across the country through the Nuclear Energy University Program (NEUP). This initiative has empowered dozens of universities to collaborate toward a nuclear-friendly future.
Francisco I. Valentín, Narbeh Artoun, Ryan Anderson, Masahiro Kawaji, Donald M. McEligot
Nuclear Technology | Volume 196 | Number 3 | December 2016 | Pages 661-673
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NT16-46
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Very high temperature reactors (VHTRs) with helium-cooled prismatic cores are one type of Generation IV gas-cooled reactors proposed for implementation in next-generation nuclear power plants. To contribute to the VHTR development, a high-temperature/high-pressure test facility has been constructed and used to investigate the convection heat transfer of gaseous coolants. This test facility consisted of a single flow channel with a diameter of 16.8 mm in a graphite column with a length of 2.7 m (9 ft) equipped with four 2.3-kW heaters. Convection heat transfer experiments were conducted with air, nitrogen, and helium for inlet Reynolds number (Re) values ranging from 500 to 70000. Extensive three-dimensional numerical modeling was also performed using a commercial finite element package, COMSOL Multiphysics. The numerical results agreed with the convection heat transfer data, with maximum error percentages under 15%. Based on this agreement, important information was extracted from the numerical model regarding the axial and radial velocity and temperature profiles as well as the axial variations in gas properties. This work examines deteriorated turbulent heat transfer and flow laminarization for a wide range of Re, including laminar, transition, and turbulent flows.