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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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Latest News
Securing the advanced reactor fleet
Physical protection accounts for a significant portion of a nuclear power plant’s operational costs. As the U.S. moves toward smaller and safer advanced reactors, similar protection strategies could prove cost prohibitive. For tomorrow’s small modular reactors and microreactors, security costs must remain appropriate to the size of the reactor for economical operation.
Olugbenga O. Noah, Johan F. Slabber, Josua P. Meyer
Nuclear Technology | Volume 193 | Number 3 | March 2016 | Pages 375-390
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NT15-56
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Natural convection heat transfer in fluid-saturated porous media has in recent years gained considerable attention especially in high-temperature reactors. It is proposed in this study that light water reactors (LWRs) can be made safer by redesigning the fuel in the fuel assembly. The proposed design is aimed at increasing the safety level in LWRs by the use of fuel in the form of loose coated particles in a helium environment inside the nuclear fuel cladding tubes of the fuel elements. The coated particle fuel being a heat source forms a bed in the cladding tube closed at both ends, the heat from the particles is transferred to the gas in the tube, and the gas movement is due to natural convection. In this study, we investigate the heat transfer characteristics inside a cladding tube containing packed beds of spherical particles by simulating a porous region whose medium properties are defined; that is, the geometrical model representing the packed bed is specified as a porous region. The finite volume method was used in solving the three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equation while the heat transfer coefficient h and the dimensionless numbers such as Ra = f(Gr, Pr) and Nu are used in analyzing the results. Simulated results from this investigation were validated with experimental results. The discrepancy in the results may be due to uncertainties, experimental errors, numerical errors, and the consequence of the lump parameter effect in the porous region modeling approach. This approach may be considered a unique means of estimating heat transfer characteristics in porous media.