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
Mar 2026
Jul 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
March 2026
Nuclear Technology
February 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
April 2026
Latest News
NRC approves TerraPower construction permit
Today, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced that it has approved TerraPower’s construction permit application for Kemmerer Unit 1, the company’s first deployment of Natrium, its flagship sodium fast reactor.
This approval is a significant milestone on three fronts. For TerraPower, it represents another step forward in demonstrating its technology. For the Department of Energy, it reflects progress (despite delays) for the Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP). For the NRC, it is the first approval granted to a commercial reactor in nearly a decade—and the first approval of a commercial non–light water reactor in more than 40 years.
Karsten Fischer
Nuclear Technology | Volume 112 | Number 1 | October 1995 | Pages 58-62
Technical Paper | Nuclear Reactor Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT95-A15851
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The advantage of passive catalytic modules for hydrogen mitigation during core-melt accidents, as compared with active devices like forced-flow recombiners or ignitors, is given by the higher reliability of operation and the elimination of potentially violent combustion events. An important step in the qualification of a passive catalytic module system is the determination of the total required capacity and its distribution at various locations in the containment. Experiments and analytic modeling work were performed to qualify the installation of a system of catalytic modules for a large dry pressurized water reactor (PWR) containment. The operational capacity of a prototype catalytic module was determined experimentally, and a corresponding model correlation was developed and integrated into the GOTHIC containment code. This modified code was validated against experimental data. As an application, predictions of the effects, resulting from backfitting a large, dry PWR containment with 50 catalytic modules, were done using the modified code. The catalytic modules keep the hydrogen concentrations below a level of 10% where violent deflagrations could be expected. Local higher concentrations near the release location are inert due to associated low oxygen and high steam concentrations. A proper distribution of the modules in the containment guarantees full mixing of the atmosphere due to natural convective currents.