ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
Latest Magazine Issues
Jun 2026
Jan 2026
2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
July 2026
Nuclear Technology
June 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
May 2026
Latest News
North American construction is back—smaller and faster—at OPG’s Darlington
“The nuclear renaissance is real here,” said Ontario Power Generation’s Subo Sinnathamby on May 8, one year to the day after OPG secured a final investment decision to build the first of four planned BWRX-300 reactors at its Darlington nuclear power plant, and shortly after the new reactor’s foundation was lifted into place. “We got our license to construct in April and our [final investment decision] in May, and we’ve been off to the races since.”
Steven T. Polkinghorne, Gregg L. Sharp, Richard T. McCracken
Nuclear Technology | Volume 145 | Number 1 | January 2004 | Pages 44-56
Technical Paper | Thermal Hydraulics | doi.org/10.13182/NT04-A3459
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) is a 250-MW irradiation facility used to test reactor fuels and other materials, and also to produce radioisotopes. The ATR core is divided into five regions, or lobes, that normally operate at different power levels. To support future irradiation programs, it is desired that the maximum lobe power be increased 10% (from 60 to 66 MW). A modification to ATR's emergency core cooling system is proposed to ensure that adequate safety margins would be maintained during a loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA). The modification being considered is the addition of an accumulator injection system. The RELAP5 thermal-hydraulic code and the SINDA thermal analyzer were used to simulate the two most challenging design-basis LOCAs identified in the ATR Safety Analysis Report. Calculations were performed both with and without accumulator injection. The results indicate that a 10% increase in maximum lobe power is achievable. Minimum thermal margins increased more than 40% when accumulator injection was simulated.