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Division Spotlight
Accelerator Applications
The division was organized to promote the advancement of knowledge of the use of particle accelerator technologies for nuclear and other applications. It focuses on production of neutrons and other particles, utilization of these particles for scientific or industrial purposes, such as the production or destruction of radionuclides significant to energy, medicine, defense or other endeavors, as well as imaging and diagnostics.
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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Nuclear Science and Engineering
April 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
February 2024
Latest News
Can hydrogen be the transportation fuel in an otherwise nuclear economy?
Let’s face it: The global economy should be powered primarily by nuclear power. And it probably will by the end of this century, with a still-significant assist from renewables and hydro. Once nuclear systems are dominant, the costs come down to where gas is now; and when carbon emissions are reduced to a small portion of their present state, it will become obvious that most other sources are only good in niche settings. I mean, why use small modular reactors to load-follow when they can just produce that power instead of buffering it?
Mahmoud Lotfy, Alice Ying, Mohamed Abdou, Yi-Hyun Park, Seungyon Cho
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 72 | Number 3 | October 2017 | Pages 255-262
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2017.1330637
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Ceramic breeder pebble beds undergo complex thermally-induced stress build-up and relaxation processes during reactor operations due to the pebble bed thermal expansion and creep deformation. Understanding such processes can facilitate the evaluation of a solid breeder performance, including bed stress/strain equilibrium status, which will guide the design of stable blanket operation and assessment of lifetime. The efforts of this study cover both experimental testing and numerical modeling for this purpose. Measured stresses in pebble beds show a decreasing trend with thermal cycles, until ultimately reaching a saturated state. This stress relaxation is mainly caused by the combined effect of bed plastic rearrangement and accumulation of creep deformation under compressive stresses and high temperatures. As bed stress is reduced, the creep deformation becomes less significant and further cyclic operation would not alter the pebble bed mechanical state. To validate the thermally-induced stress and its variation with cycles, experiments of thermal stress measurement have been designed and conducted for pebble beds heated by both continuous and pulsed power sources. Moreover, the effects of mechanical pre-compaction were investigated with emphasis on understanding the relationship between the bed stress-state evolution and maintaining adequate levels of thermal contact between the pebbles and the coolant structure. The results of this study presents valuable data to serve as a basis for validation of the most recent pebble bed numerical models.