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Fusion Energy
This division promotes the development and timely introduction of fusion energy as a sustainable energy source with favorable economic, environmental, and safety attributes. The division cooperates with other organizations on common issues of multidisciplinary fusion science and technology, conducts professional meetings, and disseminates technical information in support of these goals. Members focus on the assessment and resolution of critical developmental issues for practical fusion energy applications.
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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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Latest News
Geological work begins on Poland’s first nuclear plant
Project management firm Bechtel started site geological surveys for Poland’s first nuclear power plant project, the company announced on Wednesday.
Bechtel will conduct in-depth geological surveys at the Lubiatowo-Kopalino site in the Pomeranian municipality of Choczewo, in northern Poland. This is a key milestone for the country’s entry into nuclear power production, as the surveys will inform the suitability of the planned site.
Mauricio E. Tano, Jean C. Ragusa
Nuclear Technology | Volume 207 | Number 10 | October 2021 | Pages 1599-1614
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2020.1820830
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In the high-temperature reactor design, it is common practice to leave gaps between the graphite blocks of the reflectors to accommodate thermal dilatation and material swelling, as well as to provide an additional cooling source during operation. These gaps give rise to bypass flows entering the reactor core. The bypass flows can change friction factors and heat exchange coefficients obtained in the bulk of the pebble bed. In this paper, a coupled computational fluid dynamics–discrete element method (CFD-DEM) model is proposed. In this model, the pebbles are resolved by the CFD grid and the turbulent field is partially captured using a detached eddy simulation method. The DEM model is first validated against empirical correlations for the packing of the pebbles, and the coupled model is then tested against thermal measurements in the SANA experiment. Then the model is used to perform three-dimensional studies of the effects of the bypass flows in a representative pebble bed configuration. It is determined that the effect of cross flows can be approximately bounded to the first two layers of pebbles next to the reflector wall. Additionally, an increase of ~12% in the Nusselt number in the pebbles next to the reflector is predicted, with a maximum local increase in the pebble of ~100%.