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Division Spotlight
Thermal Hydraulics
The division provides a forum for focused technical dialogue on thermal hydraulic technology in the nuclear industry. Specifically, this will include heat transfer and fluid mechanics involved in the utilization of nuclear energy. It is intended to attract the highest quality of theoretical and experimental work to ANS, including research on basic phenomena and application to nuclear system design.
Meeting Spotlight
2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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
College students help develop waste-measuring device at Hanford
A partnership between Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) and Washington State University has resulted in the development of a device to measure radioactive and chemical tank waste at the Hanford Site. WRPS is the contractor at Hanford for the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management.
B. P. Bromley, A. V. Colton
Nuclear Technology | Volume 207 | Number 8 | August 2021 | Pages 1193-1215
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2020.1853466
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Lattice physics and core physics studies have been carried out to investigate the reactor physics feasibility of destroying americium (Am) and curium (Cm) using special target fuel bundles in blanket fuel channels in a heterogeneous seed-blanket pressure tube heavy water reactor (PT-HWR) core fueled primarily with natural uranium. Results indicate that it should be feasible to achieve net-zero production of Am in a single PT-HWR core using 10 to 16 dedicated blanket channels containing Am-based target bundles while only one dedicated blanket channel would be required for achieving net-zero production of Cm. While the use of target blanket fuel bundles with fuel elements made of Am or Cm mixed with thorium (Th) in oxide form ((Am,Th)O2, (Cm,Th)O2) is expected to be suitable for transmutation purposes, the use of fuel elements made of pure americium oxide, especially those in the form of AmO1.55, may not be suitable for transmutation purposes because of potential issues with fuel melting under high-power operations or postulated accident scenarios. The potential to achieve net-zero production of Am and Cm in a single thermal-spectrum reactor, such as a PT-HWR, could help eliminate the need to build and qualify a deep geological repository (DGR) capable of storing minor actinides for a long time (>1 million years). At the very least, the size and/or number of DGRs required for storing radioactive waste could be reduced significantly. Thus, destroying Am and Cm in PT-HWRs could be regarded as a viable solution to the perceived problem of nuclear waste and may help improve public acceptance of the use of nuclear energy. In addition, it may be possible to apply a similar approach for destroying MAs in other Generation III+ (Gen-III+)/Generation IV (Gen-IV)/small modular reactor (SMR) technologies.