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Division Spotlight
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
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
Supreme Court rules against Texas in interim storage case
The Supreme Court voted 6–3 against Texas and a group of landowners today in a case involving the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s licensing of a consolidated interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel, reversing a decision by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to grant the state and landowners Fasken Land and Minerals (Fasken) standing to challenge the license.
Tunc Aldemir, Joseph W. Talnagi,*, Don W. Miller
Nuclear Technology | Volume 86 | Number 3 | September 1989 | Pages 248-263
Technical Paper | Fission Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT89-A34293
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The 10-kW, highly enriched uranium (HEU) fueled Ohio State University Research Reactor (OSURR) is being upgraded to operate at 500 kW under natural convection core cooling with the recently licenced lowenriched uranium (LEU), high-density U3Si2fuel. The OSURR will be the first university reactor to use standardized U3Si2 plates for a full-core conversion from HEU to LEU fuel. The activities toward conversion/power upgrade objectives include (a) a neutronic performance assessment of 15 LEU cores with 16 plate standard and 10 plate control elements under expected operating conditions; (b) simulation of OSURR threedimensional pool dynamics under various pool configurations to limit the pool top 16N activity (PTNA) to operationally allowable levels; (c) determination of a new correlation to predict onset of nucleate boiling (ONB) in thin, rectangular channels under low-velocity, upward flow conditions; and (d) design of a pool heat removal system (PHRS). These activities have identified three possible LEU cores with a cold, clean shutdown margin in the range from 1.57 to 1.91% Δk/k that allow steady-state operation at 500 kW with a 50 to 60% margin to ONB. A system configuration that minimizes PTNA while maximizing the primary inlet temperature to PHRS to improve the heat exchanger efficiency has also been identified. The PHRS is designed to remove 500 kW through an ethylene-glycol heat exchanger and a dry cooler when the outside air temperature is <33°C. The PHRS also has an auxiliary heat exchanger to allow operation without power derating when the air temperature is >33°C.
