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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.
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2025 ANS Annual Conference
June 15–18, 2025
Chicago, IL|Chicago Marriott Downtown
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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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Smarter waste strategies: Helping deliver on the promise of advanced nuclear
At COP28, held in Dubai in 2023, a clear consensus emerged: Nuclear energy must be a cornerstone of the global clean energy transition. With electricity demand projected to soar as we decarbonize not just power but also industry, transport, and heat, the case for new nuclear is compelling. More than 20 countries committed to tripling global nuclear capacity by 2050. In the United States alone, the Department of Energy forecasts that the country’s current nuclear capacity could more than triple, adding 200 GW of new nuclear to the existing 95 GW by mid-century.
Yue Guan, Fei Li, Mohammad Modarres
Nuclear Technology | Volume 133 | Number 3 | March 2001 | Pages 290-309
Technical Paper | Reactor Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT01-A3175
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A method of integrating traditional thermal-hydraulic (TH) analysis with probabilistic assessment (PA) (called the TH-PA method) has been developed. This method allows for an exhaustive search through a set of individually developed but subsequently linked logic models to screen and identify accident scenarios. The logic models consist of a probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) used for probabilistic screening purpose and an ensemble of integrated behavior logic diagrams (IBLDs). The PRA model represents the functional/logical relationships of the components and accident scenarios, the same way as is modeled in the conventional PRAs. The IBLDs hierarchically represent system interactions/dependencies due to TH phenomena and human actions. This hierarchy also shows causal factors and consequences of plant states, and identifies induced system failures. The TH-PA method relies on two types of scenario screening: probabilistic screening (PA screening) and TH screening. The PA screening eliminates scenarios with low frequencies (e.g., <10-10/reactor-yr). The traditional frequency-based screening method used in the PRAs has been adopted for PA screening. The TH screening eliminates scenarios that do not expect to result in core uncovery. For the TH screening, a simple accident trajectory approach has been devised. A trajectory represents the collapsed liquid volume fraction in the reactor primary system as a function of primary pressure. The trajectories are based on simple mass and energy conservation equations (if the TH-PA method is applied to a system where mechanical energy transfer is important, momentum conservation should also be considered). The roles of each plant system are then identified by indicating whether the system is a "source" or a "sink" for mass and energy at a given time during accident progression. Based on an input set that represents the plant system failures and the stage of the transient, the accident trajectory is developed. The accident trajectory allows for the evaluation of safety significance of scenarios. The trajectory also determines whether the core becomes uncovered, should the input conditions (i.e., conditions described by the input set) remain unchanged.