ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
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Division Spotlight
Thermal Hydraulics
The division provides a forum for focused technical dialogue on thermal hydraulic technology in the nuclear industry. Specifically, this will include heat transfer and fluid mechanics involved in the utilization of nuclear energy. It is intended to attract the highest quality of theoretical and experimental work to ANS, including research on basic phenomena and application to nuclear system design.
Meeting Spotlight
Utility Working Conference and Vendor Technology Expo (UWC 2024)
August 4–7, 2024
Marco Island, FL|JW Marriott Marco Island
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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Nuclear Science and Engineering
September 2024
Nuclear Technology
August 2024
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Taking shape: Fusion energy ecosystems built with public-private partnerships
It’s possible to describe fusion in simple terms: heat and squeeze small atoms to get abundant clean energy. But there’s nothing simple about getting fusion ready for the grid.
Private developers, national lab and university researchers, suppliers, and end users working toward that goal are developing a range of complex technologies to reach fusion temperatures and pressures, confounded by science and technology gaps linked to plasma behavior; materials, diagnostics, and electronics for extreme environments; fuel cycle sustainability; and economics.
Carolyn Coyle, Emilio Baglietto, Charles Forsberg
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 194 | Number 8 | August-September 2020 | Pages 782-792
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2020.1723993
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Liquid salts have become more attractive as coolants for low-carbon power generation due to needs for high-temperature heat and affordable energy storage. Of particular interest are halide salts utilized in fluoride-salt-cooled high-temperature reactors, molten salt reactors, and high-magnetic-field fusion machines, as well as in concentrated solar power systems. Because of their high-temperature operation and semitransparent nature, the liquid salts in these designs may experience the effects of participating media radiative heat transfer (RHT). While some work has been conducted on measuring the thermophysical properties of these fluids, there is currently very little known about their radiative properties.
Here, we present the initial results of a two-part methodology to enhance RHT understanding and improve modeling in high-temperature liquid salts. First, an experimental apparatus designed to measure liquid chloride and fluoride salt absorption coefficients by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was completed and validated with water measurements. Second, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations were run to determine the contribution of thermal radiation to the overall heat transfer for flow between parallel plates. This geometry was used to verify code accuracy and investigate requirements for absorption coefficient spectral banding. Future work will be to complete halide salt absorption measurements and couple them to the established CFD methods to identify geometries and temperatures where RHT is significant and enable prediction of heat transfer in such systems.