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Division Spotlight
Operations & Power
Members focus on the dissemination of knowledge and information in the area of power reactors with particular application to the production of electric power and process heat. The division sponsors meetings on the coverage of applied nuclear science and engineering as related to power plants, non-power reactors, and other nuclear facilities. It encourages and assists with the dissemination of knowledge pertinent to the safe and efficient operation of nuclear facilities through professional staff development, information exchange, and supporting the generation of viable solutions to current issues.
Meeting Spotlight
2024 ANS Winter Conference and Expo
November 17–21, 2024
Orlando, FL|Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld
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
Oct 2024
Jul 2024
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
November 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
The D&D of SM-1A
With the recent mobilization at the site of the former SM-1A nuclear power plant at Fort Greely, Alaska, the Radiological Health Physics Regional Center of Expertise, located at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Baltimore District, began its work toward the decommissioning and dismantlement of its third nuclear power plant, this time located just 175 miles south of the Arctic Circle.
Ryo Yokoyama, Masahiro Kondo, Shunichi Suzuki, Christophe Journeau, Marco Pellegrini, Koji Okamoto
Nuclear Technology | Volume 210 | Number 5 | May 2024 | Pages 884-905
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2023.2262255
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Accomplishing the retrieval of fuel debris from Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (1F) Unit 3 (1F3) requires an understanding of its distribution. In this study, we performed real-scale corium spreading and sedimentation behavior analyses using Lagrangian moving particle hydrodynamics and large eddy simulation methods. These methods allowed us to calculate the spreading of corium with various shear viscosities under water conditions and to propose the best estimation for the fuel debris distribution in 1F3. To minimize uncertainties arising from unknown boundary conditions, we investigated relevant parameters through literature review. Our analyses showed that highly viscous corium tends to pile up within the pedestal region under strong convective vapor and boiling heat transfer, while low-viscosity corium spreads to the outside of the pedestal regions regardless of cooling efficiency. We identified three cooling modes based on initial shear viscosity and cooling efficiency and predicted the fuel debris distribution in 1F3 by comparing our results to those of the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development/Nuclear Energy Agency (OECD/NEA) Benchmark Study of the Accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (BSAF) project. The distribution estimation of highly viscous corium derived from oxidic corium is consistent with the three-dimensional reconstructed image by TEPCO and the calculated results by the OECD/NEA BSAF project.