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Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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A new ANSI/ANS standard for liquid metal fire protection published
ANSI/ANS-54.8-2025, Liquid Metal Fire Protection in LMR Plants, received approval from the American National Standards Institute on September 2 and is now available for purchase.
The 2025 edition is a reinvigoration of the withdrawn ANS-54.8-1988 of the same title. The Advanced Reactor Codes and Standards Collaborative (ARCSC) identified the need for a current version of the standard via an industry survey.
Typical liquid metal reactor designs use liquid sodium as the coolant for both the primary and intermediate heat-transport systems. In addition, liquid sodium and NaK (a mixture of sodium and potassium that is liquid at room temperature) are often used in auxiliary heat-removal systems. Since these liquid metals can react readily with oxygen, water, and other compounds, special precautions must be taken in the design, construction, testing, and maintenance of the sodium/NaK systems to ensure that the potential for leakage is very small.
Joseph A. Fleck, Jr.
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 9 | Number 2 | February 1961 | Pages 271-280
doi.org/10.13182/NSE61-A15609
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Boiling water reactor dynamic behavior is most sensitive to pressure variations at atmospheric pressure due to the strong dependence of saturation temperature on pressure. The two important pressure variation effects at atmospheric pressure are the variation of hydrostatic pressure within the core, which leads to a change in saturation temperature with position, and the pressure variations resulting from the acceleration of water by changing steam volume. A system of equations which takes into account these pressure effects in a natural circulation boiling water reactor is derived by means of conservation principles stated in integral form. The resulting equations are solved numerically. Sample calculations reveal no special tendency toward instability other than a form of hydraulic instability which does not depend on the inclusion of pressure effects in the model.