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Division Spotlight
Mathematics & Computation
Division members promote the advancement of mathematical and computational methods for solving problems arising in all disciplines encompassed by the Society. They place particular emphasis on numerical techniques for efficient computer applications to aid in the dissemination, integration, and proper use of computer codes, including preparation of computational benchmark and development of standards for computing practices, and to encourage the development on new computer codes and broaden their use.
Meeting Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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
NRC cuts fees by 50 percent for advanced reactor applicants
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has announced it has amended regulations for the licensing, inspection, special projects, and annual fees it will charge applicants and licensees for fiscal year 2025.
Sheng Zhang, Hsun-Chia Lin, Xiaodong Sun
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 197 | Number 5 | May 2023 | Pages 920-946
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2022.2102389
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Molten salt reactors (MSRs) are a class of Generation IV nuclear reactors using molten salts as heat transfer fluids. MSRs bring a number of benefits, including low primary system working pressure, high working temperature, and enhanced safety due to the passive safety systems adopted. Although MSRs promise these benefits, a number of key technology needs, such as the accurate prediction of the thermal-hydraulic performance of the passive safety systems, which completely rely on natural circulation, are indispensable for MSR development, licensing, and future deployment. Therefore, this study develops the one-dimensional (1D) NAtural Circulation COde (NACCO) considering the buoyancy and radiative heat transfer effects in high-temperature molten salts for such predictions. The 1D code, developed using MATLAB, is then benchmarked with experimental data from three natural circulation flow experiments, where water, nitrate salt NaNO3-KNO3 (60–40 wt%), and fluoride salt LiF-BeF2 (66–34 mol%, FLiBe) were used as the working fluids. Our analysis shows that (1) the buoyancy and radiative heat transfer effects need to be considered for high-temperature molten salt natural circulation flows, while the radiative heat transfer effect is negligible for low-temperature water flows in the natural circulation experiments investigated, and (2) the 1D code NACCO predicts salt temperature profiles reasonably well, with less than 18°C and 25°C discrepancies from experimental data for the pipe centerline temperature of NaNO3-KNO3 and FLiBe up to 450°C and 750°C, respectively.