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Division Spotlight
Nuclear Installations Safety
Devoted specifically to the safety of nuclear installations and the health and safety of the public, this division seeks a better understanding of the role of safety in the design, construction and operation of nuclear installation facilities. The division also promotes engineering and scientific technology advancement associated with the safety of such facilities.
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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Nuclear Science and Engineering
June 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Fusion Energy Week begins today
Fusion is riding a surge of attention that began in December 2022 when researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility achieved fusion ignition. The organizers of Fusion Energy Week—a group called the U.S. Fusion Outreach Team—on the other hand, trace fusion development back 100 years to the doctoral research of Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, who discovered that stars, including our Sun, are mostly made of hydrogen and helium, which in turn led to the understanding that those elements are the “fuel” of potential fusion energy systems on Earth. In recognition of Payne-Gaposchkin’s birthday—May 10—the U.S. Fusion Outreach Team plans to hold a “grassroots celebration of fusion energy” May 6–10, 2024, and annually during the second week of May.
Hiroshi Endo, Yoshio Kumaoka, Simcha Golan, Hiroshi Nakagawa
Nuclear Technology | Volume 99 | Number 3 | September 1992 | Pages 318-329
Technical Paper | Nuclear Reactor Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT92-A34716
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A system dynamics analysis is applied to a pool-type fast breeder reactor to examine the influence of a bottom-supported reactor vessel (BSRV) design on anticipated transient without scram (ATWS) events such as an unprotected loss of flow (ULOF), an unprotected loss of heat sink (ULOHS), and an unprotected transient overpower (UTOP) by using the ARGO safety analysis code. The BSRV enhances negative feedback because of the differential displacement between the core and the control rod as compared with a top-supported reactor vessel. In particular, the BSRV has the potential, especially in a mixed-oxide-fueled core, to mitigate the design requirements to prevent boiling of the coolant during an ULOF and ULOHS through the elongation of the primary flow coastdown and enhancement of the axial expansion of the control rod drive line. In the metallic-fueled core, the effects of the BSRV on the ATWS events are diminished by the limitation of the sodium temperature increase.
