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Division Spotlight
Fusion Energy
This division promotes the development and timely introduction of fusion energy as a sustainable energy source with favorable economic, environmental, and safety attributes. The division cooperates with other organizations on common issues of multidisciplinary fusion science and technology, conducts professional meetings, and disseminates technical information in support of these goals. Members focus on the assessment and resolution of critical developmental issues for practical fusion energy applications.
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.
M. Guyot, P. Gubernatis, C. Suteau
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 178 | Number 2 | October 2014 | Pages 202-224
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE13-80
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Numerical simulations of the primary phase of a hypothetical core disruptive accident are currently based on a multiple-channel approach, which requires that subassemblies or groups of subassemblies be represented together as independent channels. Generally, a single-pin treatment is used to model the channel fuel pins. The limitation of this simplified approach should be assessed because it can affect voiding and melting patterns that in turn may influence reactivity insertions and power history. In the same manner, the single-pin hypothesis may introduce important biases in the prediction of can-wall thermal ablation. Radial propagation of the degradation and subsequent accident consequences may thus be affected. To improve the safety assessment of sodium fast reactors, two-dimensional effects are investigated using a multiple-pin model. Numerical results for a severe accident transient show that the current methodology is nonconservative and predicts the onset of sodium boiling with a delay. A two-node radial meshing of the subassembly is preferred for treating the peripheral ring of fuel pins separately from the rest of the pins. This treatment would allow overcoming the previous issue and give more accurate initiating phase simulations.