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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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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Powering the future: How the DOE is fueling nuclear fuel cycle research and development
As global interest in nuclear energy surges, the United States must remain at the forefront of research and development to ensure national energy security, advance nuclear technologies, and promote international cooperation on safety and nonproliferation. A crucial step in achieving this is analyzing how funding and resources are allocated to better understand how to direct future research and development. The Department of Energy has spearheaded this effort by funding hundreds of research projects across the country through the Nuclear Energy University Program (NEUP). This initiative has empowered dozens of universities to collaborate toward a nuclear-friendly future.
Douglas S. Drumheller
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 72 | Number 3 | December 1979 | Pages 347-356
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE79-A20390
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In many cases, the mixing of drops of hot liquid fuel with a more volatile coolant results in stable film boiling about the drops. At some later time, a disturbance can fragment the drops. This fragmentation increases the contact area between the liquids and results in a violent vaporization of the coolant. An understanding of this fragmentation mechanism is crucial to the prediction of the likelihood of violent fuel-coolant interactions. In this work, a fragmentation mechanism is proposed. It is shown how moderate pressure disturbances can cause the symmetrical collapse of a vapor film and allow the coolant to impact the drop. The impact is shown to be of sufficient strength to fragment the drop. This model quantitatively predicts the conditions necessary to lead to extensive fragmentation.