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.
Division Spotlight
Fuel Cycle & Waste Management
Devoted to all aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle including waste management, worldwide. Division specific areas of interest and involvement include uranium conversion and enrichment; fuel fabrication, management (in-core and ex-core) and recycle; transportation; safeguards; high-level, low-level and mixed waste management and disposal; public policy and program management; decontamination and decommissioning environmental restoration; and excess weapons materials disposition.
Meeting Spotlight
ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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
Feb 2025
Jul 2024
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
March 2025
Nuclear Technology
February 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Neutron Vision at Los Alamos: Exploring the Frontiers of Nuclear Materials Science
In materials science, understanding the unseen—how materials behave internally under real-world conditions—has always been key to developing new materials and accelerating innovative technologies to market. Moreover, the tools that allow us to see into this invisible world of materials have often been game-changers. Among these, neutron imaging stands out as a uniquely powerful method for investigating the internal structure and behavior of materials without having to alter or destroy the sample. By harnessing the unique properties of neutrons, researchers can uncover the hidden behavior of materials, providing insights essential for advancing nuclear materials and technologies.
Mingjun Wang, Annalisa Manera, Victor Petrov, Suizheng Qiu, Wenxi Tian, G. H. Su
Nuclear Technology | Volume 203 | Number 2 | August 2018 | Pages 194-204
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2018.1446656
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In detailed previous work by the authors, an innovative decay heat removal (DHR) system has been proposed and designed for the Integral Inherently Safe Light Water Reactor (I2S-LWR). The current paper studies the inadvertent actuation of one DHR system train during I2S-LWR normal operation due to a false signal or operator action. The RELAP5 code is used to perform a one-dimensional study, and important thermal-hydraulic characteristics, including primary loop coolant flow rate, pressure, temperature, DHR primary-side flow rate, and coolant temperature, are achieved during this transient. Then, a detailed computational fluid dynamics simulation utilizing STARCCM+ is carried out to investigate the coolant mixing characteristics in the downcomer and lower plenum and obtain the local thermal-hydraulic conditions at the reactor core inlet. It is found that as a consequence of inadvertent DHR actuation, the maximum overcooling at the reactor core inlet is about 3 K, which would not result in significant reactivity insertion. Furthermore, a more severe transient of inadvertent DHR operation with intermediate loop break is studied, and the results show that this would not lead to more significant overcooling to the I2S-LWR core compared with inadvertent DHR operation without intermediate loop break. This work is an indispensable supplement for DHR system comprehensive assessment in the I2S-LWR project.