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 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
Latest Magazine Issues
Apr 2026
Jan 2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
May 2026
Nuclear Technology
March 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
A year in orbit: ISS deployment tests radiation detectors for future space missions
The predawn darkness on a cool Florida night was shattered by the ignition of nine Merlin engines on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The thrust of the engines shook the ground miles away. From a distance, the rocket appeared to slowly rise above the horizon. For the cargo onboard, the launch was anything but gentle, as the ignition of liquid oxygen generated more than 1.5 million pounds of force. After the rocket had been out of sight for several minutes, the booster dramatically returned to Earth with several sonic booms in a captivating show of engineering designed to make space travel less expensive and more sustainable.
Venceslav Kostadinov
Nuclear Technology | Volume 114 | Number 1 | April 1996 | Pages 12-22
Technical Paper | Fission Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT96-A35220
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Results are given of independent research of core thermal design limits for the Nuklearna Elektrarna Krško (NEK) nuclear power plant; procedures for two-loop pressurized water reactor plant core design safety limit calculation are used. Emphasis is placed on researching the vessel exit boiling and the hot-channel exit quality limits and their impact on the maximum available design safety operating range and thermal operating margin of the NEK reactor core. For this purpose, the LIMITS computer code is developed. Based on the modified, well-tried COBRA-IV-I computer code, the departure of nuclear boiling ratio core safety limits are calculated. The original results complement well those of the NEK Final Safety Analysis Report. The procedures and the methods for determining the reactor core design thermal limits are successfully proven despite the unavailability of proprietary data, different models, and computer codes. In addition to the acquired capability of in-house independent checking of the vendor’s results, the bases are set for further independent analyses of the limiting safety system settings for the NEK core.