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
Isotopes & Radiation
Members are devoted to applying nuclear science and engineering technologies involving isotopes, radiation applications, and associated equipment in scientific research, development, and industrial processes. Their interests lie primarily in education, industrial uses, biology, medicine, and health physics. Division committees include Analytical Applications of Isotopes and Radiation, Biology and Medicine, Radiation Applications, Radiation Sources and Detection, and Thermal Power Sources.
Meeting Spotlight
ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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
Norway’s Halden reactor takes first step toward decommissioning
The government of Norway has granted the transfer of the Halden research reactor from the Institute for Energy Technology (IFE) to the state agency Norwegian Nuclear Decommissioning (NND). The 25-MWt Halden boiling water reactor operated from 1958 to 2018 and was used in the research of nuclear fuel, reactor internals, plant procedures and monitoring, and human factors.
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.