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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.
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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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Strong performances across the board
Craig Piercycpiercy@ans.org
Another year, another stellar performance by America’s nuclear plants. We’ve come to expect high capacity factors, and it’s a credit to the men and women of the profession. They’ve made routine something that was unimaginable not so long ago.
The decadal challenge for the nuclear enterprise now is to maintain this high level of operational excellence for the current fleet, while at the same time ushering in a new generation of technologies at scale. It will be a big job—but one that seems more and more likely with each passing day.
Ronald G. Ballinger, Jeongyoun Lim
Nuclear Technology | Volume 147 | Number 3 | September 2004 | Pages 418-435
Technical Paper | Medium-Power Lead-Alloy Reactors | doi.org/10.13182/NT04-A3540
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The viability of advanced Pb- or Pb-Bi-cooled fast reactor systems will depend on the development of classes of materials that can operate over the temperature range 650-1200°C. We briefly review the current state of the technology concerning the interaction of Pb and Pb-Bi alloys with structural materials. We then identify the key challenges to successful use of materials in these systems and suggest a path forward to the development of new materials and operating methods to allow higher-temperature operation. Our focus is on the necessary trade-offs that must be considered and how these trade-offs influence R&D choices. Our analysis suggests that three classes of materials will be needed for successful deployment of a lead-alloy-cooled reactor system. A lower-temperature qualified material will be necessary for the pressure boundary. The structural and cladding materials will require 1000°C- and 1200°C-class materials. The 1000°C-class material will be exposed to the 1000°C coolant. The 1200°C-class material will be required for the cladding and structural materials in the core region. The higher-temperature material will be required to accommodate anticipated temperature transients from potential accident scenarios, such as a loss of flow.