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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.
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
Proving DRACO will deliver
The United States is now closer than it has been in over five decades to launching the first nuclear thermal rocket into space, thanks to DRACO—the Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Orbit.
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.