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Division Spotlight
Materials Science & Technology
The objectives of MSTD are: promote the advancement of materials science in Nuclear Science Technology; support the multidisciplines which constitute it; encourage research by providing a forum for the presentation, exchange, and documentation of relevant information; promote the interaction and communication among its members; and recognize and reward its members for significant contributions to the field of materials science in nuclear technology.
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!
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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.
F. Botta, C. Hellwig
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 135 | Number 2 | June 2000 | Pages 165-176
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE00-A2132
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Nuclear fuel can be fabricated and used in the form of microspheres (sphere-pac fuel). The heat transport mechanisms in fuel pins containing sphere-pac fuel are however very different from those in pellet pins. They are controlled not only by the thermal conductivity of fuel, cladding, and fill gas but also by particle sizes and packing density, by their state of sintering, and by radiation and gas pressure. A theoretical model is presented accounting for all these parameters, but still simple and fast enough to be implemented into a fuel pin modeling code. The basic geometrical element for this model is derived from the orthorhombic packing. For calculation of a binary package, four different radial zones within the basic element are distinguished, i.e., neck zone, gas zone, infiltrated zone, and bypass zone. The method presented here combines an analytical one-dimensional treatment with a radial heat flow relaxation procedure simulating the second (radial) dimension. Results are compared with experimental and theoretical data from the literature. With the model presented here, sophisticated modeling of sphere-pac fuel pins is possible.