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Division Spotlight
Young Members Group
The Young Members Group works to encourage and enable all young professional members to be actively involved in the efforts and endeavors of the Society at all levels (Professional Divisions, ANS Governance, Local Sections, etc.) as they transition from the role of a student to the role of a professional. It sponsors non-technical workshops and meetings that provide professional development and networking opportunities for young professionals, collaborates with other Divisions and Groups in developing technical and non-technical content for topical and national meetings, encourages its members to participate in the activities of the Groups and Divisions that are closely related to their professional interests as well as in their local sections, introduces young members to the rules and governance structure of the Society, and nominates young professionals for awards and leadership opportunities available to members.
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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Nuclear Science and Engineering
May 2025
Nuclear Technology
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Latest News
TerraPower begins U.K. regulatory approval process
Seattle-based TerraPower signaled its interest this week in building its Natrium small modular reactor in the United Kingdom, the company announced.
TerraPower sent a letter to the U.K.’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, formally establishing its intention to enter the U.K. generic design assessment (GDA) process. This is TerraPower’s first step in deployment of its Natrium technology—a 345-MW sodium fast reactor coupled with a molten salt energy storage unit—on the international stage.
Yuqi Liu, Shuai Che, Adam Burak, Daniel L. Barth, Nicolas Zweibaum, Minghui Chen
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 197 | Number 5 | May 2023 | Pages 907-919
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2022.2103343
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Fluoride salt-cooled, High-temperature Reactors (FHRs), featuring particle fuel, graphite moderator, and molten fluoride salt coolant, are used for electricity generation and process heat applications. The primary loop of an FHR is a closed loop that operates slightly above the atmospheric pressure with the fluoride salt temperature over 600°C. Reliable high-temperature molten salt pumps are critical to the successful deployment of FHRs. To stabilize rotating shafts and reduce the associated friction coefficients, well-designed bearings are required for molten salt pumps. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the detailed hydrodynamic performance of bearings under high-temperature molten salt conditions. In this study, a computational fluid dynamics software package, i.e., STAR-CCM+, was used to predict the performance of fluoride salt–lubricated bearings. The numerical models were verified and validated respectively based on an analytical solution derived from the Reynolds equation and experimental data published in the literature. Good agreement was observed between the simulation results and the analytical solution and experimental data with a maximum relative discrepancy of less than 5%. The validated numerical model was then employed to predict the pressure distributions, applied static loads, and power losses of high-temperature fluoride salt–lubricated bearings with various Sommerfeld numbers. In addition, a parametric analysis was performed to investigate the influence of the axial and helical grooves of bearings on applied static load and power loss. It is found that under the same salt lubrication conditions, the bearings with helical grooves and axial grooves respectively yield 20% off and 14% off power loss compared with the bearing without grooves.