ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
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Division Spotlight
Operations & Power
Members focus on the dissemination of knowledge and information in the area of power reactors with particular application to the production of electric power and process heat. The division sponsors meetings on the coverage of applied nuclear science and engineering as related to power plants, non-power reactors, and other nuclear facilities. It encourages and assists with the dissemination of knowledge pertinent to the safe and efficient operation of nuclear facilities through professional staff development, information exchange, and supporting the generation of viable solutions to current issues.
Meeting Spotlight
International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering (M&C 2025)
April 27–30, 2025
Denver, CO|The Westin Denver Downtown
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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Apr 2025
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Nuclear Science and Engineering
June 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
May 2025
Latest News
Argonne’s METL gears up to test more sodium fast reactor components
Argonne National Laboratory has successfully swapped out an aging cold trap in the sodium test loop called METL (Mechanisms Engineering Test Loop), the Department of Energy announced April 23. The upgrade is the first of its kind in the United States in more than 30 years, according to the DOE, and will help test components and operations for the sodium-cooled fast reactors being developed now.
J. Bogen, K.-H. Schüller
Nuclear Technology | Volume 38 | Number 1 | April 1978 | Pages 104-112
Technical Paper | Low-Temperature Nuclear Heat / Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT78-A16162
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Nuclear power plants are normally designed for operation with condensing turbines for pure electricity production. The rational use of primary energy demands the combined production of electricity and low-temperature heat, especially for regions with high population densities. The choice of the plant layout for combined generation of electricity and heat from nuclear power stations depends on the requirements of the electrical and district heating grids, on technological criteria of the process, as well as on economic criteria. A 3782 MJ/s pressurized water reactor (PWR) nuclear steam supply system is used as a basis for the combined production of electricity and heat produced by extracting steam from the low pressure turbines of the turbo-generator and by installing a separate heating turbine. There are no important technical changes necessary in a PWR plant, designed for electricity generation, when changing to the combined generation of electricity and heat. Since the additional equipment for district heating production is designed in detail, the additional plant costs can be estimated. The result shows that, for a heating capacity range of 349 to 1163 MJ/s, the additional plant costs are on the order of 1 to 5% of the total investment for a 1300-MW(electric) PWR power station for pure electricity production.