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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.
Meeting Spotlight
2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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
College students help develop waste-measuring device at Hanford
A partnership between Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) and Washington State University has resulted in the development of a device to measure radioactive and chemical tank waste at the Hanford Site. WRPS is the contractor at Hanford for the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management.
Raymond S. Troy, Robert V. Tompson, Tushar K. Ghosh, Sudarshan K. Loyalka
Nuclear Technology | Volume 178 | Number 3 | June 2012 | Pages 241-257
Technical Paper | Fission Reactors | doi.org/10.13182/NT11-48
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Graphite particle generation by interpebble abrasion and by abrasion of pebbles with the containment vessel during operation of a pebble bed reactor is an issue of interest in the safety analysis of this class of very high temperature reactor. To understand particle generation, we have constructed an apparatus to generate graphite particles from preformed graphite hemispheres under rotational/spinning abrasive loading. We have initially used commercial-grade graphites in our experiments and have generated size distributions for the abraded particles, determined particle shapes, and measured the particle surface areas, pore volumes, and pore volume distributions of particles produced during abrasion of graphite surfaces under different conditions. The size distributions were studied using an Aerodynamic Particle Sizer™ and a Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer.™ Most of the particles observed were in the range from 18.1 to 600 nm in diameter. The scanning electron micrographs showed that the particles tend to be irregular in shape and porous in nature. We have also conducted Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area and pore volume measurements that have verified the highly porous nature of the particles. The calculated surface area and open porosity for our initial measurements of the particles from this particular grade of commercial graphite were found to be 626 m2 g-1 and 68%, respectively. In addition, the average surface roughness of fresh samples was 0.966 Ra m at the point of contact.