ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
Latest Magazine Issues
Feb 2026
Jul 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
March 2026
Nuclear Technology
February 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
January 2026
Latest News
Fusion energy: Progress, partnerships, and the path to deployment
Over the past decade, fusion energy has moved decisively from scientific aspiration toward a credible pathway to a new energy technology. Thanks to long-term federal support, we have significantly advanced our fundamental understanding of plasma physics—the behavior of the superheated gases at the heart of fusion devices. This knowledge will enable the creation and control of fusion fuel under conditions required for future power plants. Our progress is exemplified by breakthroughs at the National Ignition Facility and the Joint European Torus.
S. P. Pathak, K. Velusamy, K. Devan, V. A. Suresh Kumar
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 198 | Number 4 | April 2024 | Pages 804-817
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2023.2216127
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Due to the presence of sodium, it is a challenging task to achieve the reliable and safe operation of steam generators in a sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR). Water flow oscillations in a two-phase flow system worsen the tube integrity. An accurate prediction of two-phase pressure drop is essential in designing steam generators to operate in a stable regime. Toward this, experiments have been carried out on an industrial-size 19-tube model sodium-heated steam generator of 5.5-MW capacity to understand two-phase pressure drop characteristics at various operating conditions. The measured data are used to estimate the two-phase frictional pressure drop. The concept of a two-phase friction multiplier has been used in the present study. A significant variation in the two-phase frictional multiplier is seen with steam quality, whereas the variation of the two-phase friction multiplier is insignificant at saturated steam condition. Based on the experiments, complemented by computational model, a correlation has been developed for the two-phase frictional multiplier as a function of steam quality for sodium-heated once-through straight-tube steam generators.