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Division Spotlight
Operations & Power
Members focus on the dissemination of knowledge and information in the area of power reactors with particular application to the production of electric power and process heat. The division sponsors meetings on the coverage of applied nuclear science and engineering as related to power plants, non-power reactors, and other nuclear facilities. It encourages and assists with the dissemination of knowledge pertinent to the safe and efficient operation of nuclear facilities through professional staff development, information exchange, and supporting the generation of viable solutions to current issues.
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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Fusion Science and Technology
February 2024
Latest News
From South Korea to Belgium: Testing a high-density research reactor fuel
The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute has developed a high-density uranium silicide fuel designed to replace high-enriched uranium in research reactors. Recent irradiation tests appear to be successful, KAERI reports, which means the fuel could be commercialized to continue a key global nuclear nonproliferation effort—converting research reactors to run on low-enriched uranium fuel.
Zhanjie Xu, Rainer Meyder, Ulrich Fischer, Jörg Rey
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 52 | Number 1 | July 2007 | Pages 100-106
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST07-A1489
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Since the helium-cooled pebble bed (HCPB) breeding blanket was accepted as a reference blanket concept for a future DEMO reactor in the European Union almost 10 yr ago, research and development on the breeder unit (BU) has been conducted. As the basic module of the modular blanket segmentation, the BU is the key component to fulfill the prescribed functions of the breeding blanket. In the paper, two design schemes of the HCPB BU are discussed: (a) a design with double breeder beds confined by an m-shaped container and (b) a design with a single breeder bed confined by a simpler n-shaped container. The first design features a stack of parallel straightforward channels in the cooling plates, and the second design features a group of meandering channels. The two BU variants are analyzed numerically with regard to the performance of their neutronics, thermal hydraulics, and structural mechanics. Based on the numerical analyses, the two variants are compared in the three aspects. Finally, possible improvements on the HCPB BU designs are proposed.