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.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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
Aug 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
September 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
August 2025
Latest News
Nuclear Dirigo
On April 22, 1959, Rear Admiral George J. King, superintendent of the Maine Maritime Academy, announced that following the completion of the 1960 training cruise, cadets would begin the study of nuclear engineering. Courses at that time included radiation physics, reactor control and instrumentation, reactor theory and engineering, thermodynamics, shielding, core design, reactor maintenance, and nuclear aspects.
Javier Martinez, Elia Merzari (ANL), Michael Acton, Emilio Baglietto (MIT)
Proceedings | Advances in Thermal Hydraulics 2018 | Orlando, FL, November 11-15, 2018 | Pages 644-658
The turbulent flow inside a differentially heated cavity at a Rayleigh number of approximately 109 has been studied through a fully resolved Direct Numerical Simulation using the high-order Spectral Element Method code Nek5000. The case chosen for the present paper includes two physical phenomena: the natural recirculation itself, and the flow inside a curved channel that has been added to bottom right corner of the cavity. Solutions are presented as reference for the validation of models when the two physical phenomena are superposed. Simulations have been carried out either using the Boussinesq approximation or a low-Mach compressible formulation. Significant discrepancies between the two methods inform of the extreme necessary caution to consider when using the Boussinesq approximation in the limits of its applicability. Proper resolution of the DNS has been analyzed by considering the polynomial order convergence of the solution and the computation of the Reynolds stresses budgets.