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Division Spotlight
Nuclear Installations Safety
Devoted specifically to the safety of nuclear installations and the health and safety of the public, this division seeks a better understanding of the role of safety in the design, construction and operation of nuclear installation facilities. The division also promotes engineering and scientific technology advancement associated with the safety of such facilities.
Meeting Spotlight
2025 ANS Annual Conference
June 15–18, 2025
Chicago, IL|Chicago Marriott 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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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.
Ronald F. Kulak
Nuclear Technology | Volume 51 | Number 3 | December 1980 | Pages 378-387
Technical Paper | Mechanics Applications to Fast Breeder Reactor Safety / Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT80-A32574
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Evaluation of the structural safety of reactors often involves the analysis of various types of fluid-structural components interacting in three-dimensional space. For example, in the design of a pool-type reactor several vital in-tank components such as the primary pumps and the intermediate heat exchangers are contained within the primary tank. Typically, these components are suspended from the deck structure and largely submersed in the sodium pool. Because of this positioning these components are vulnerable to structural damage due to pressure wave propagation in the tank during a hypothetical core disruptive accident. To assess the transient response of these components, it is necessary to perform a dynamic analysis in three-dimensional space that accounts for the fluid-structure coupling. A formulation for a three-dimensional Lagrangian hydrodynamic element was applied to the above safety problem. A model that has many of the salient features of this fluid-structural component system was developed and then analyzed using the NEPTUNE computer code. The primary tank and the in-tank component were modeled as deformable elastoplastic structures, the sodium pool as an inviscid, compressible fluid, while the deck was taken to be rigid and fixed in space. The transient response of the model showed that although the pressure waves loaded the in-tank component so that it moved toward the primary tank, they also loaded the primary tank and moved it away from the component preventing structural damage due to impact between the component and tank.