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Division Spotlight
Reactor Physics
The division's objectives are to promote the advancement of knowledge and understanding of the fundamental physical phenomena characterizing nuclear reactors and other nuclear systems. The division encourages research and disseminates information through meetings and publications. Areas of technical interest include nuclear data, particle interactions and transport, reactor and nuclear systems analysis, methods, design, validation and operating experience and standards. The Wigner Award heads the awards program.
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2025 ANS Annual Conference
June 15–18, 2025
Chicago, IL|Chicago Marriott 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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High-temperature plumbing and advanced reactors
The use of nuclear fission power and its role in impacting climate change is hotly debated. Fission advocates argue that short-term solutions would involve the rapid deployment of Gen III+ nuclear reactors, like Vogtle-3 and -4, while long-term climate change impact would rely on the creation and implementation of Gen IV reactors, “inherently safe” reactors that use passive laws of physics and chemistry rather than active controls such as valves and pumps to operate safely. While Gen IV reactors vary in many ways, one thing unites nearly all of them: the use of exotic, high-temperature coolants. These fluids, like molten salts and liquid metals, can enable reactor engineers to design much safer nuclear reactors—ultimately because the boiling point of each fluid is extremely high. Fluids that remain liquid over large temperature ranges can provide good heat transfer through many demanding conditions, all with minimal pressurization. Although the most apparent use for these fluids is advanced fission power, they have the potential to be applied to other power generation sources such as fusion, thermal storage, solar, or high-temperature process heat.1–3
Zhiee Jhia Ooi, Thanh Hua, Ling Zou, Rui Hu
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 197 | Number 5 | May 2023 | Pages 840-867
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2022.2106726
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A two–dimensional ring model is developed with SAM to model the core of the High Temperature Test Facility (HTTF) at the system level. The ring model simplifies the complex structure of the HTTF core by converting the hexagonal rows of heaters and flow channels into layers of concentric annular rings. The ring model is first compared against a three–dimensional (3D)–one–dimensional (1D) model where the solid structures are fully resolved in three dimensions while the fluid structures are modeled as 1D flows. Comparison between the 3D–1D and the ring models shows that the latter can predict major parameters reasonably well under steady–state normal operating conditions, but the heater temperatures are under predicted. Adjustment is made to the effective thermal conductivity of the ceramic core of the ring model to improve the heater temperature predictions. The ring model is also used to simulate a transient pressurized conduction cooldown condition and is benchmarked with the experimental data from the HTTF Test PG–27. Good agreement is obtained between the experimental data and the predictions by the ring model.