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Division Spotlight
Human Factors, Instrumentation & Controls
Improving task performance, system reliability, system and personnel safety, efficiency, and effectiveness are the division's main objectives. Its major areas of interest include task design, procedures, training, instrument and control layout and placement, stress control, anthropometrics, psychological input, and motivation.
Meeting Spotlight
2025 ANS Annual Conference
June 15–18, 2025
Chicago, IL|Chicago Marriott Downtown
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
High-temperature plumbing and advanced reactors
The use of nuclear fission power and its role in impacting climate change is hotly debated. Fission advocates argue that short-term solutions would involve the rapid deployment of Gen III+ nuclear reactors, like Vogtle-3 and -4, while long-term climate change impact would rely on the creation and implementation of Gen IV reactors, “inherently safe” reactors that use passive laws of physics and chemistry rather than active controls such as valves and pumps to operate safely. While Gen IV reactors vary in many ways, one thing unites nearly all of them: the use of exotic, high-temperature coolants. These fluids, like molten salts and liquid metals, can enable reactor engineers to design much safer nuclear reactors—ultimately because the boiling point of each fluid is extremely high. Fluids that remain liquid over large temperature ranges can provide good heat transfer through many demanding conditions, all with minimal pressurization. Although the most apparent use for these fluids is advanced fission power, they have the potential to be applied to other power generation sources such as fusion, thermal storage, solar, or high-temperature process heat.1–3
Londrea J. Garrett, Milos Burger, Adam Burak, Xiaodong Sun, Piyush Sabharwall, Igor Jovanovic
Nuclear Technology | Volume 209 | Number 8 | August 2023 | Pages 1189-1196
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2023.2196233
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
It is well established that a rapid increase in the concentration of fission products in the reactor coolant stream can serve as an early indication of fuel failure. We use Monte Carlo simulations to investigate the feasibility of using several gamma detectors as diagnostic equipment to monitor the presence of major fission product isotopes in high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) coolant streams for early detection of fuel failure and therefore the prevention of fuel failure conditions. We model the response of high-purity germanium (HPGe), CdZnTe, NaI(Tl), and LaBr3(Ce) detectors of typical commercial sizes to the gamma emissions from nuclides expected to be found within the coolant stream of the Versatile Test Reactor (VTR) under development by the U.S. Department of Energy. The results indicate that for the 233- and 250-keV gamma rays from 133Xe and 135Xe, respectively, the detection criterion is met in under 1 min using a single HPGe detector. Changes in other spectral lines associated with Xe nuclides are detected within 1 h regardless of the choice of detector.
