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
2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Oct 2025
Jul 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
November 2025
Nuclear Technology
October 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
The current status of heat pipe R&D
Idaho National Laboratory under the Department of Energy–sponsored Microreactor Program recently conducted a comprehensive phenomena identification and ranking table (PIRT) exercise aimed at advancing heat pipe technology for microreactor applications.
Noah A. Weichselbaum, Shadman Hussain, Morteza Rahimi-Abkenar, Majid T. Manzari, Philippe M. Bardet
Nuclear Technology | Volume 195 | Number 1 | July 2016 | Pages 98-104
Technical Note | doi.org/10.13182/NT15-93
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The effect of water on the dynamics response of fuel bundles in pressurized water reactors during external forcing is studied experimentally inside a large facility that houses a full-height bundle and is operated on an earthquake shake table. This configuration is directly relevant to earthquakes and loss-of-coolant accidents. Most data to date have been focused on structural response and some pointwise measurements of liquid velocity. Here, structure displacement coupled with velocity field are investigated with nonintrusive optical diagnostics in initially stagnant water. Data indicate that a flow develops as the structure oscillates: both a cross flow through the bundle and an axial pulsatile flow that was not anticipated. A physical mechanism is proposed as a source of this structure-induced flow that is driven by pressure gradients around the fuel bundle.