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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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U.S. nuclear supply chain: Ready for liftoff
Craig Piercycpiercy@ans.org
This month, September 8–11, the American Nuclear Society is teaming up with the Nuclear Energy Institute to host our first-ever Nuclear Energy Conference and Expo—NECX for short—in Atlanta. This new meeting combines ANS’s Utility Working Conference and NEI’s Nuclear Energy Assembly to form what NEI CEO Maria Korsnick and I hope will be the premier nuclear industry gathering in America.
We did this because after more than four decades of relative stagnation, the U.S. nuclear supply chain is finally entering a new era of dynamic growth. This resurgence is being driven by several powerful and increasingly durable forces: the explosive demand for electricity from artificial intelligence and data centers, an unprecedented wave of public and private acceptance of—and investment in—advanced nuclear technologies, and a strong market signal for reliable, on-demand power. Add the recent Trump administration executive orders on nuclear into the mix, and you have all the makings of an accelerant-rich business environment primed for rapid expansion.
Taisuke Yonomoto, Masaya Kondo, Yutaka Kukita, L. Scott Ghan,, Richard R. Schultz
Nuclear Technology | Volume 119 | Number 2 | August 1997 | Pages 112-122
Technical Paper | Nuclear Reactor Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT97-A35380
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Integral experiments simulating small-break loss-of-coolant accidents in the Westinghouse AP600 reactor are conducted using the ROSA-V large-scale test facility. These experiments show that the core makeup tank (CMT) behavior can be divided into two phases: the natural-circulation and the drain phases. The natural-circulation phase between the CMT and the rest of the primary is established immediately after the opening of the valve in the discharge line. The hot water from the primary, through the pressure balance line (PBL), accumulates in the top of the CMT, forming a clear thermal stratification above the cold initial inventory of the CMT. The drain phase is initiated by flashing in the CMT for break diameters ≤1 in. and by a gaseous flow from the primary for break diameters ≥2 in. Interactions between the CMT and the other safety components are observed: The CMT discharge rate is decreased by accumulator injection and is increased by actuation of the automatic depressurization system. When the PBL is empty of liquid, the CMT drain rate is approximately given by the free gravitational drain rate, irrespective of the flow direction in the PBL.