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Aerospace Nuclear Science & Technology
Organized to promote the advancement of knowledge in the use of nuclear science and technologies in the aerospace application. Specialized nuclear-based technologies and applications are needed to advance the state-of-the-art in aerospace design, engineering and operations to explore planetary bodies in our solar system and beyond, plus enhance the safety of air travel, especially high speed air travel. Areas of interest will include but are not limited to the creation of nuclear-based power and propulsion systems, multifunctional materials to protect humans and electronic components from atmospheric, space, and nuclear power system radiation, human factor strategies for the safety and reliable operation of nuclear power and propulsion plants by non-specialized personnel and more.
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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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.
Mark T. Leonard
Nuclear Technology | Volume 62 | Number 1 | July 1983 | Pages 31-42
Technical Paper | Nuclear Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT83-A33229
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Upper head injection (UHI) is an emergency core coolant (ECC) system design that injects subcooled water into the upper head of the reactor vessel in a pressurized water reactor. An analysis has been performed that investigates the effects of UHI on small-break transient behavior. The analysis consists of several RELAP5/MOD1 computer code calculations, which have been compared to experimental data from a series of small break loss-of-coolant accident simulations, performed in the Semiscale Mod-2A system. Small-break transient phenomena were calculated not to be significantly affected by the introduction of subcooled liquid into the vessel upper head. Nonequilibrium effects were minimal and limited to the period of ECC injection. The analysis covered a range of small-break sizes, and the severity of the transients (in terms of minimum core coolant level) was calculated to be a maximum (with or without UHI) for a cold leg break size of ∼5.0% of the cold flow area. For all break sizes, UHI was calculated to increase the margin against core uncovery. The calculated hydraulic phenomena and specific fluid conditions were generally in good agreement with data. The calculated relative magnitudes of important phenomena were preserved over the break size spectrum.