ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
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
International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering (M&C 2025)
April 27–30, 2025
Denver, CO|The Westin Denver Downtown
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Apr 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
June 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
May 2025
Latest News
Argonne’s METL gears up to test more sodium fast reactor components
Argonne National Laboratory has successfully swapped out an aging cold trap in the sodium test loop called METL (Mechanisms Engineering Test Loop), the Department of Energy announced April 23. The upgrade is the first of its kind in the United States in more than 30 years, according to the DOE, and will help test components and operations for the sodium-cooled fast reactors being developed now.
Kyoung O. Lee, Robin P. Gardner
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 174 | Number 3 | July 2013 | Pages 264-285
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE12-23
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Pebble motions in pebble-bed reactors (PBRs) have been investigated by generating pebble motion histories with Monte Carlo molecular dynamics simulations. This extension of molecular dynamics to PBR-sized pebble motion is accomplished by splitting the simulation into two parts. The first part simulates the dropping of pebbles into the PBR with a closed exit that allows one to obtain the correct initial placement of all pebbles within the pebble bed. The second part simulates what happens when the PBR exit is opened and normal pebble flow begins. Using this combined approach the pebble piling up and subsequent discharge are predicted. Simulations have been conducted with this approach by monitoring the mass flow rate, the pebble piling up, and the subsequent discharge for a range of pertinent parameters using the Hertz-Mindlin force for pebble interactions. The simulation output data include the force, velocity, and position of the pebbles as a function of time. Note that arching or locked flow, a very important phenomenon, is predicted by this approach under certain operating conditions. Using this approach, PBR results (including arching) for a range of the parameters of interest are reported and are discussed herein.