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
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
Utility Working Conference and Vendor Technology Expo (UWC 2024)
August 4–7, 2024
Marco Island, FL|JW Marriott Marco Island
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
Jul 2024
Jan 2024
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
September 2024
Nuclear Technology
August 2024
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Taking shape: Fusion energy ecosystems built with public-private partnerships
It’s possible to describe fusion in simple terms: heat and squeeze small atoms to get abundant clean energy. But there’s nothing simple about getting fusion ready for the grid.
Private developers, national lab and university researchers, suppliers, and end users working toward that goal are developing a range of complex technologies to reach fusion temperatures and pressures, confounded by science and technology gaps linked to plasma behavior; materials, diagnostics, and electronics for extreme environments; fuel cycle sustainability; and economics.
Guanyi Wang, Cezary Bojanowski, Akshay Dave, David Jaluvka, Lin-Wen Hu, Erik Wilson
Nuclear Technology | Volume 209 | Number 11 | November 2023 | Pages 1797-1818
Regular Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2023.2205971
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The hydromechanical stability of the fuel plates in parallel coolant channels of a Materials Testing Reactor (MTR) fuel element design is of great importance to the safety of research and test reactors. Previous analytical, experimental, and numerical efforts focused on parallel channels with the same or similar size; also, in the prior numerical simulations, the fuel plate was often assumed to be perfectly flat. This work presents the results of a fluid-structure interaction simulation performed to evaluate the flow-induced deflections of the fuel plates in the low-enriched uranium (LEU, <20 wt% 235U) fuel element design for the conversion (from highly enriched uranium) of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Reactor (MITR-II, also referred to as MITR). Various manufacturing and assembly tolerances of the MITR LEU elements are considered in the analysis, and the effects of channel size disparity, nonideal plate shape, and flow rate uncertainty are investigated. Results show that, for all cases analyzed, the deflection occurs toward the larger channel, and the change in any channel stripe remains small (less than 0.021 mm) compared to fabrication tolerances. In addition to simulation work, a hydraulic performance test of the MITR LEU fuel element is currently planned to support conversion to the use of LEU fuel.