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Aerospace Nuclear Science & Technology
Organized to promote the advancement of knowledge in the use of nuclear science and technologies in the aerospace application. Specialized nuclear-based technologies and applications are needed to advance the state-of-the-art in aerospace design, engineering and operations to explore planetary bodies in our solar system and beyond, plus enhance the safety of air travel, especially high speed air travel. Areas of interest will include but are not limited to the creation of nuclear-based power and propulsion systems, multifunctional materials to protect humans and electronic components from atmospheric, space, and nuclear power system radiation, human factor strategies for the safety and reliable operation of nuclear power and propulsion plants by non-specialized personnel and more.
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2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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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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Glass strategy: Hanford’s enhanced waste glass program
The mission of the Department of Energy’s Office of River Protection (ORP) is to complete the safe cleanup of waste resulting from decades of nuclear weapons development. One of the most technologically challenging responsibilities is the safe disposition of approximately 56 million gallons of radioactive waste historically stored in 177 tanks at the Hanford Site in Washington state.
ORP has a clear incentive to reduce the overall mission duration and cost. One pathway is to develop and deploy innovative technical solutions that can advance baseline flow sheets toward higher efficiency operations while reducing identified risks without compromising safety. Vitrification is the baseline process that will convert both high-level and low-level radioactive waste at Hanford into a stable glass waste form for long-term storage and disposal.
Although vitrification is a mature technology, there are key areas where technology can further reduce operational risks, advance baseline processes to maximize waste throughput, and provide the underpinning to enhance operational flexibility; all steps in reducing mission duration and cost.
Rahman S. Abdulmohsin, Muthanna H. Al-Dahhan
Nuclear Technology | Volume 198 | Number 1 | April 2017 | Pages 17-25
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2017.1292818
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In the dynamic core of nuclear pebble bed reactors, the prediction of the fluid flow within the packing determines the heat transfer characteristics and, hence, the performance of these reactors.
The fluid flow of the gas phase can be characterized and quantified in terms of the pressure drop coefficient. Therefore, in this work, the pressure drop in a packed pebble bed having different aspect ratios (ratio of the diameter of the bed to the diameter of the pebbles) has been measured experimentally in a separate-effects pilot-plant scale and cold-flow experimental setup of 0.3 m in diameter using a differential pressure transducer technique. The effects of superficial gas velocity have been investigated using a range of velocities from 0.01 to 2 m/s covering both the laminar and turbulent flow regimes. In addition, the effect of bed structure (aspect ratio) on the pressure drop coefficient has been investigated for the studied packed pebble bed. The results show the strong dependence of the pressure drop on both the aspect ratio and, hence, the porosity of the bed and the coolant gas velocity. The obtained experimental results have been used to evaluate the predictions of the correlations recommended for pressure drop estimation in packed pebble bed nuclear reactors. The present work provides insight on the pressure drop and fluid flow of the gas phase in the studied bed using an advanced technique and methodology.