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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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Deep Space: The new frontier of radiation controls
In commercial nuclear power, there has always been a deliberate tension between the regulator and the utility owner. The regulator fundamentally exists to protect the worker, and the utility, to make a profit. It is a win-win balance.
From the U.S. nuclear industry has emerged a brilliantly successful occupational nuclear safety record—largely the result of an ALARA (as low as reasonably achievable) process that has driven exposure rates down to what only a decade ago would have been considered unthinkable. In the U.S. nuclear industry, the system has accomplished an excellent, nearly seamless process that succeeds to the benefit of both employee and utility owner.
Jun Wang (Univ of Wisconsin, Madison), Anil Gurgen (MIT), Michael L. Corradini (Univ of Wisconsin, Madison), Koroush Shirvan (MIT)
Proceedings | 2018 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants (ICAPP 2018) | Charlotte, NC, April 8-11, 2018 | Pages 755-762
In order to compare the thermal hydraulics system response to Accident Tolerant Fuel (ATF) materials, a benchmark was performed for early accident progression behavior given a Station Blackout scenario. Thermal hydraulic parameters such as the pressurizer pressure, reactor pressure vessel (RPV) water level, peak cladding temperature, and hydrogen mass generated were quantified by the TRACE code by a team at MIT and compared to MELCOR by a team at UW Madison. This benchmark comparison with TRACE and MELCOR used the same initial conditions for a simplified generic PWR plant model. This PWR model was based on a 2200MWth conventional light water reactor plant. The benchmark work included the input model development and the simulation comparisons for the thermal hydraulic response, pressurizer relief valve operation, and the clad oxidation. The Zircaloy cladding case and FeCrAl cladding case were compared in the current simulation. The result showed good agreement between TRACE and MELCOR for overall event timing and key parameters. The exothermic energy release from Zircaloy and FeCrAl clad oxidation were calculated and compared. The difference in oxidation energy between the clad materials was quite small when compared to decay heat values.
