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Division Spotlight
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.
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!
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Latest News
Norway’s Halden reactor takes first step toward decommissioning
The government of Norway has granted the transfer of the Halden research reactor from the Institute for Energy Technology (IFE) to the state agency Norwegian Nuclear Decommissioning (NND). The 25-MWt Halden boiling water reactor operated from 1958 to 2018 and was used in the research of nuclear fuel, reactor internals, plant procedures and monitoring, and human factors.
Ethan S. Chaleff, Nikolas Antolin, Wolfgang Windl, Thomas Blue
Nuclear Technology | Volume 204 | Number 1 | October 2018 | Pages 59-65
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2018.1464288
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Molten salts have been proposed as coolants for numerous advanced reactor designs. It is envisioned that these reactors, both fluoride-salt–cooled high-temperature reactors and molten-salt–fueled reactors will operate at high temperatures, where the radiative heat transfer properties of the salts may be required for accurate heat transfer analysis. Experimental challenges have prevented the measurement of absorption coefficients in most salts. In an attempt to fill this gap in data, the Vienna Ab-Initio Simulation Package is used in the present research to calculate the absorption coefficient resulting from photoelectric interactions in numerous molten salts. Ab-initio molecular dynamics is used to generate the amorphous structures of a variety of salts. The pure halide salts LiF, FLiNaK, and FLiBe, are shown to be optically clear through a wide portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. Conversely, the transition metal fluoride salt KF-ZrF4 is shown to be substantially opaque. As chromium is a known impurity of concern from the corrosion of steels in reactor environments, the effect on absorption of low levels of chromium in an otherwise transparent salt is investigated and found to significantly increase absorption at relevant wavelengths.