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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
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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Nuclear Science and Engineering
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Nuclear Technology
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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
Biao Zhang, Jinjia Cao, Shuang Lin, Yingming Song
Nuclear Technology | Volume 211 | Number 1 | January 2025 | Pages 1-12
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2024.2312026
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The inverse distance weighting (IDW) interpolation algorithm is used to reconstruct the γ radiation field. The traditional IDW interpolation algorithm is improved. The power exponent of distance P in the IDW for each interpolation point is not fixed and varies from one point to the other point. A fitting expression of P is obtained, which is a function of the coordinates of each point and can minimize the interpolation error when the number of sampling points is specified. Afterward, the improved algorithm is used to reconstruct a γ radiation field of a single source, and the theoretic results are compared with the results from Geant4, yielding an average relative error of 7.50%. The interpolated results from the experimental measurements align well with the actual data, with an average relative error of only 0.12%. The P derived from the interpolated experimental measurement data shows an error of 2.0% compared to the power exponent obtained from the Geant4 data interpolation. Then we set up a double-source γ radiation scene experiment and measured the count rate data at the grid points. At the same time, the experiment scene was simulated by Geant4. The improved IDW algorithm could not reconstruct the double-source γ radiation field well, thus further improvement is needed.
