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Division Spotlight
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.
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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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.
Atul A. Karve, Chae Han, Rizwan-uddin
Nuclear Technology | Volume 123 | Number 2 | August 1998 | Pages 121-129
Technical Paper | Fission Reactors | doi.org/10.13182/NT98-A2886
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Axial power shapes that develop during power-maneuvering simulations in pressurized water reactors must be analyzed to ensure that an adequate margin to avoid departure from nucleate boiling (DNB) is maintained during these transients. To reduce the number of flux shapes that need to be analyzed in detail to determine the DNB ratio (DNBR), often generic axial flux shapes are analyzed and maximum-allowable-peaking (MAP) limits are determined to conservatively filter those actual axial power shapes that are clearly safe. Current generic MAP limits, obtained for axial flux shapes generated by a two-parameter-based axial flux shape generator, are overly conservative for some power shapes and are nonconservative for others, leading to unnecessary operational restrictions on conservative cases. A penalty is imposed on nonconservative cases. To reduce the number of overly conservative and nonconservative cases, a new generic axial power shape generator that is based on three parameters is developed. Generic MAP limits have been developed for the new axial flux shape generator and tested using real flux shapes by plotting the percent deviation of MAP limits for generic flux shapes from the corresponding value for actual flux shapes. A new axial flux shape generator, which is clearly superior because it leads to a significantly lower percent deviation, will lead to reduced man-hours for detailed DNBR analyses and remove some of the unnecessary operational restrictions imposed by the old flux shape generator.