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Division Spotlight
Materials Science & Technology
The objectives of MSTD are: promote the advancement of materials science in Nuclear Science Technology; support the multidisciplines which constitute it; encourage research by providing a forum for the presentation, exchange, and documentation of relevant information; promote the interaction and communication among its members; and recognize and reward its members for significant contributions to the field of materials science in nuclear technology.
Meeting Spotlight
2021 ANS Virtual Annual Meeting
June 14–16, 2021
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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May 2021
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Nuclear Science and Engineering
June 2021
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
April 2021
Latest News
The consequences of closure: The local cost of shutting down a nuclear power plant
When on May 7, 2013, the Kewaunee nuclear power plant in rural Wisconsin was shut down, it took with it more than 600 full-time jobs and more than $70 million in lost wages, not including temporary employment from refueling and maintenance outages. Taking into account indirect business-to-business activity, the total economic impact of the closure of the single-unit pressurized water reactor was estimated to be more than $630 million to the surrounding three-county area.
A. Bousbia Salah, J. Vlassenbroeck, H. Austregesilo
Nuclear Technology | Volume 192 | Number 1 | October 2015 | Pages 1-10
Technical Paper | Fission Reactors | dx.doi.org/10.13182/NT14-51
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Following an accidental event in a nuclear pressurized water reactor, involving the loss of primary-side forced coolant flow, the core decay heat is generally removed through a natural circulation convection process. The cooldown of the reactor coolant system is carried out through the secondary-side heat sink following prescribed guidelines. However, under asymmetric primary-side cooling conditions, natural circulation interruption (NCI) in the loops with an inactive steam generator may take place. Under such conditions, the cooldown of the primary side may be hindered and the transient may evolve toward a degraded state. The NCI issue was recently addressed within the thermal-hydraulic experimental projects ROSA-2 and PKL-2 of the Nuclear Energy Agency of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The objective was to identify the conditions that may lead to the occurrence of NCI, to develop cooldown procedures that prevent the occurrence of NCI, and to assess the thermal-hydraulic code capabilities in predicting this phenomenon. In the current study, NCI experimental tests carried out in the LSTF (Large Scale Test Facility) and PKL (Primaer-KreisLauf) facilities are assessed using the best-estimate thermal-hydraulic system codes CATHARE and ATHLET. The simulation results are presented and conclusions are derived accordingly.
