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Division Spotlight
Nuclear Installations Safety
Devoted specifically to the safety of nuclear installations and the health and safety of the public, this division seeks a better understanding of the role of safety in the design, construction and operation of nuclear installation facilities. The division also promotes engineering and scientific technology advancement associated with the safety of such facilities.
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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Smarter waste strategies: Helping deliver on the promise of advanced nuclear
At COP28, held in Dubai in 2023, a clear consensus emerged: Nuclear energy must be a cornerstone of the global clean energy transition. With electricity demand projected to soar as we decarbonize not just power but also industry, transport, and heat, the case for new nuclear is compelling. More than 20 countries committed to tripling global nuclear capacity by 2050. In the United States alone, the Department of Energy forecasts that the country’s current nuclear capacity could more than triple, adding 200 GW of new nuclear to the existing 95 GW by mid-century.
Kenta Inagaki
Nuclear Technology | Volume 210 | Number 2 | February 2024 | Pages 308-323
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2023.2239041
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This paper presents simulation results of earlier fuel melting tests (xM3 and HBC4) performed under the power-to-melt-and-maneuverability (P2M) simulation exercise organized within the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)/Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) framework for irradiation experiments. The simulations were performed using the single-rod performance analysis code FRAPCON/FRAPTRAN as a contribution of the Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry (CRIEPI) to the P2M simulation exercise. To this end, the base irradiation of each sample was simulated using FRAPCON software, and the calculated result was used to define the initial state of the transient simulations; the xM3 and HBC4 ramp tests were simulated using FRAPTRAN. Fuel melting was not predicted for xM3, and the melting radius was underestimated for HBC4 using the original version of FRAPTRAN. The value of the fuel/cladding gap conductance was modified to obtain results that satisfy the experimental measurement of the melting radius.
In this paper, the simulation results are compared with experimental results, and the causes for discrepancy between the simulation and experiment results are discussed. The necessary improvements for FRAPTRAN to achieve a better simulation of fuel melting are also discussed. These results can help calibrate codes against high-temperature behavior and improve fuel melting modeling toward the planned P2M power ramp tests.
