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Decommissioning & Environmental Sciences
The mission of the Decommissioning and Environmental Sciences (DES) Division is to promote the development and use of those skills and technologies associated with the use of nuclear energy and the optimal management and stewardship of the environment, sustainable development, decommissioning, remediation, reutilization, and long-term surveillance and maintenance of nuclear-related installations, and sites. The target audience for this effort is the membership of the Division, the Society, and the public at large.
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2024 ANS Annual Conference
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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
G7 pledges support for nuclear at Italy meeting
The Group of Seven (G7) recommitted its support for nuclear energy in the countries that opt to use it at a Ministerial Meeting on Climate in Italy last month.
In a statement following the April meeting, the group committed to support multilateral efforts to strengthen the resilience of nuclear supply chains, referencing the goal set by 25 countries during last year’s COP28 climate conference in Dubai to triple global nuclear generating capacity by 2050.
Donna Post Guillen
Nuclear Technology | Volume 209 | Number 1 | January 2023 | Pages S21-S40
Critical Review | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2022.2055701
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Microreactors, or very small, transportable or mobile nuclear reactors with a capacity of less than 20 MW(thermal), are being developed to provide heat and power for myriad applications in remote areas, military installations, emergency operations, humanitarian missions, and disaster relief zones. A wide variety of reactor types are under consideration, including sodium-cooled fast reactors, molten-salt reactors, very high-temperature gas reactors, and heat pipe reactors. One issue common to all microreactor designs is the need to remove heat from the core. The objective of this paper is to identify a spectrum of diverse approaches to thermal management that can be used develop advanced, high-performance heat removal systems to further enhance the expected performance of a 1- to 20-MW(thermal) nuclear reactor. The focus here is on concepts that can provide a passive means of heat removal and are new to nuclear reactors. Different types of passive heat removal strategies for microreactors are examined, including latent heat-transfer devices, such as various types of heat pipes, natural convection and conduction-radiation cooling, and other thermal devices, such as thermoelectrics and thermoacoustics, that can be used to provide power for auxiliary cooling. Many of these concepts have already been fielded in renewable energy systems. Concepts at different stages of technical maturity are outlined to present ideas that can push the boundaries of thermal management in present-day nuclear technology. Practical considerations relative to the integration of these concepts into nuclear systems are given.