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Accelerator Applications
The division was organized to promote the advancement of knowledge of the use of particle accelerator technologies for nuclear and other applications. It focuses on production of neutrons and other particles, utilization of these particles for scientific or industrial purposes, such as the production or destruction of radionuclides significant to energy, medicine, defense or other endeavors, as well as imaging and diagnostics.
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2021 Student Conference
April 8–10, 2021
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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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NC State celebrates 70 years of nuclear engineering education
An early picture of the research reactor building on the North Carolina State University campus. The Department of Nuclear Engineering is celebrating the 70th anniversary of its nuclear engineering curriculum in 2020–2021. Photo: North Carolina State University
The Department of Nuclear Engineering at North Carolina State University has spent the 2020–2021 academic year celebrating the 70th anniversary of its becoming the first U.S. university to establish a nuclear engineering curriculum. It started in 1950, when Clifford Beck, then of Oak Ridge, Tenn., obtained support from NC State’s dean of engineering, Harold Lampe, to build the nation’s first university nuclear reactor and, in conjunction, establish an educational curriculum dedicated to nuclear engineering.
The department, host to the 2021 ANS Virtual Student Conference, scheduled for April 8–10, now features 23 tenure/tenure-track faculty and three research faculty members. “What a journey for the first nuclear engineering curriculum in the nation,” said Kostadin Ivanov, professor and department head.
S. N. Kim
Nuclear Technology | Volume 177 | Number 2 | February 2012 | Pages 188-202
Technical Paper | Thermal Hydraulics | dx.doi.org/10.13182/NT12-A13365
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The in-containment refueling water storage tank (IRWST) is an advanced design concept that has been adopted for the APR-1400 (a reactor type recently developed by Korea). It condenses high-temperature high-pressure fluid discharged from the reactor cooling system through pressurizer relief valves during transients. The condensation of high enthalpy fluid increases the temperature of the coolant in the IRWST. If the temperature of the water storage tank exceeds the temperature limit of 93.3°C (bubble escape temperature), oscillatory vibration occurs, and part of the steam does not condense and instead rises until it is discharged to the air inside the water storage tank. This phenomenon burdens a mechanical load upon the water storage tank structure and thereby compromises structural integrity of the IRWST. In particular, as the IRWST spargers are installed asymmetrically, they cause an uneven temperature distribution and then raise the topical temperature to the bubble escape temperature so prematurely that the cooling efficiency of the IRWST water storage tank may deteriorate.To improve the previous experiment [KSME Int. J., 18, 820 (2004)] and simulate these conditions, a cylindrical water storage tank was fabricated with a height and volume ratio identical to the actual IRWST, that is, 1:1 and 1:400, respectively; then, the steam condensation pattern and temperature distribution inside the water storage tank were observed and measured. The result of the experiment revealed that the horizontal temperature distribution was quite uniform and that the temperature was the highest on the surface of the water except near the sparger; in particular, the temperature of the surface of the water between the two spargers was the highest. And, a relatively uniform vertical temperature rise was observed. However, in the lower part of the tank (lower than 40 cm from the end of the bottom hole), the distribution revealed many interesting things related to the natural convection flow patterns. Also, when bubbles escaped at the temperature limit, a severe vibration and an attendant noise were observed.
