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
Nuclear Criticality Safety
NCSD provides communication among nuclear criticality safety professionals through the development of standards, the evolution of training methods and materials, the presentation of technical data and procedures, and the creation of specialty publications. In these ways, the division furthers the exchange of technical information on nuclear criticality safety with the ultimate goal of promoting the safe handling of fissionable materials outside reactors.
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Apr 2024
Jan 2024
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
May 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
WIPP improves utility shaft safety, begins infrastructure project
Harrison Western Shaft Sinkers (HWSS), the company drilling a new utility shaft at the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, has retained a safety culture expert following a near-miss accident in the shaft late last year. The safety expert will conduct monthly facilitated discussions with crews working on the shaft to reinforce expectations for identifying concerns regarding unsafe circumstances, according to a recent report by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB).
Tsung-Kuang Yeh, Mei-Ya Wang
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 160 | Number 1 | September 2008 | Pages 98-107
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE07-38
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In order to increase the power generation efficiency of nuclear reactors, the utilities of light water reactors have opted for power uprates in the past decades. Upon a power uprate, the power density and coolant flow rate of a nuclear reactor would change immediately, followed by water chemistry variations due to enhanced radiolysis of water and shortened coolant residence times. If the boiling water reactor (BWR) has adopted hydrogen water chemistry (HWC) for corrosion mitigation, the optimal hydrogen injection rate may thus require a proper adjustment. Because of limited measurable water chemistry data, a well-developed computer code DEMACE was used in the current study to investigate the impact of various power levels (ranging from 100 to 120%) on the redox species concentrations and electrochemical corrosion potential (ECP) behavior of components in the primary coolant circuit of a domestic BWR operating under either normal water chemistry or HWC. Our analyses indicated that the chemical species concentrations and the ECP did not vary monotonically with increases in reactor power level at a fixed feedwater hydrogen concentration. In particular, the upper plenum and the upper downcomer regions exhibited uniquely higher ECPs at 104 and 114% power levels than those at the other evaluated power levels. Accordingly, the impact of power uprate on the HWC effectiveness in a BWR is expected to vary from location to location and eventually from plant to plant because of different degrees of radiolysis and physical dimensions.