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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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2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
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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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Can hydrogen be the transportation fuel in an otherwise nuclear economy?
Let’s face it: The global economy should be powered primarily by nuclear power. And it probably will by the end of this century, with a still-significant assist from renewables and hydro. Once nuclear systems are dominant, the costs come down to where gas is now; and when carbon emissions are reduced to a small portion of their present state, it will become obvious that most other sources are only good in niche settings. I mean, why use small modular reactors to load-follow when they can just produce that power instead of buffering it?
Donna Post Guillen
Nuclear Technology | Volume 190 | Number 3 | June 2015 | Pages 236-244
Technical Paper | Thermal Hydraulics | doi.org/10.13182/NT14-62
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Results of a thermal evaluation are provided for a new shipping cask under consideration for transporting irradiated experiments between the test reactor and postirradiation examination (PIE) facilities. Most of the experiments will be irradiated in the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) at Idaho National Laboratory and then later shipped to the Hot Fuel Examination Facility located at the Materials and Fuels Complex for PIE. To date, the General Electric (GE)-2000 cask has been used to transport experiment payloads between these facilities. However, the availability of the GE-2000 cask to support future experiment shipping is uncertain. In addition, the internal cavity of the GE-2000 cask is too short to accommodate shipping the larger payloads. Therefore, an alternate shipping capability is being pursued. The Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC, Research Reactor (BRR) cask has been determined to be the best alternative to the GE-2000 cask. An evaluation of the thermal performance of the BRR cask is necessary before proceeding with fabrication of the newly designed cask hardware and the development of handling, shipping, and transport procedures. This paper presents the results of the thermal evaluation of the BRR cask loaded with a representative set of fueled and nonfueled payloads. When analyzed with identical payloads, experiment temperatures were found to be lower with the BRR cask than with the GE-2000 cask. From a thermal standpoint, the BRR cask was found to be a suitable alternate to the GE-2000 cask for shipping irradiated experiment payloads.