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Division Spotlight
Operations & Power
Members focus on the dissemination of knowledge and information in the area of power reactors with particular application to the production of electric power and process heat. The division sponsors meetings on the coverage of applied nuclear science and engineering as related to power plants, non-power reactors, and other nuclear facilities. It encourages and assists with the dissemination of knowledge pertinent to the safe and efficient operation of nuclear facilities through professional staff development, information exchange, and supporting the generation of viable solutions to current issues.
Meeting Spotlight
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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Latest News
Federal court finds in favor of Diablo Canyon license review
A review from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals this week denied a challenge to the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant’s license renewal application extension granted by the federal government.
In late 2023, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission agreed to formally docket the California plant’s request to extend plant operations beyond the current license expiration dates of 2024 and 2025 for the two respective units.
Rae-Joon Park, Kyoung-Ho Kang, Jong-Tae Kim, Ki-Young Lee, Sang-Baik Kim
Nuclear Technology | Volume 145 | Number 1 | January 2004 | Pages 102-114
Technical Paper | Materials for Nuclear Systems | doi.org/10.13182/NT04-A3463
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Experimental and analytical studies on the penetration integrity of the reactor vessel have been performed to investigate the potential for reactor vessel failure during a severe accident in the Advanced Power Reactor 1400. Six tests have been performed to analyze the effects of the annulus water between the in-core instrumentation nozzle and the thimble tube, external vessel cooling, in-vessel pressure, melt mass, and melt flow for the maintenance of penetration integrity using alumina (Al2O3) melt as a simulant. The experimental results have been evaluated using the Lower head IntegraL Analysis computer Code (LILAC) and the Modified Bulk Freezing (MBF) model. The test results have shown that the water inside the annulus is very effective in the maintenance of the reactor vessel's penetration integrity because the water prevents the melt from ejection through penetration. The penetration in the no external vessel cooling case has more damage than that in the external vessel cooling case. An increase in in-vessel pressure from 1.0 to 1.5 MPa did not create penetration damage, but an increase in melt mass from 40 to 60 kg and melt flow due to the vessel geometry significantly increased the amount of penetration damage. The analytical results using the LILAC computer code and the MBF model are very similar to the experimental results for the ablation depth of the weld and the melt penetration distance through the annulus, respectively.