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Conference Spotlight
2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
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IAEA again raises global nuclear power projections
Noting recent momentum behind nuclear power, the International Atomic Energy Agency has revised up its projections for the expansion of nuclear power, estimating that global nuclear operational capacity will more than double by 2050—reaching 2.6 times the 2024 level—with small modular reactors expected to play a pivotal role in this high-case scenario.
IAEA director general Rafael Mariano Grossi announced the new projections, contained in the annual report Energy, Electricity, and Nuclear Power Estimates for the Period up to 2050 at the 69th IAEA General Conference in Vienna.
In the report’s high-case scenario, nuclear electrical generating capacity is projected to increase to from 377 GW at the end of 2024 to 992 GW by 2050. In a low-case scenario, capacity rises 50 percent, compared with 2024, to 561 GW. SMRs are projected to account for 24 percent of the new capacity added in the high case and for 5 percent in the low case.
Salman M. Alshehri (Missouri S&T/KACST), Ibrahim A. Said (Alexandria Univ/Rice Univ), Muthanna H. Al-Dahhan (Missouri S&T/KACST/Alexandria Univ/Rice Univ), Shoaib Usman (Missouri S&T)
Proceedings | Advances in Thermal Hydraulics 2018 | Orlando, FL, November 11-15, 2018 | Pages 670-681
Multiphase Reactors Engineering and Applications Laboratory (mReal) at Missouri S&T has designed, developed, and tested a dual channel module. The facility represents a scaled down prismatic modular reactor to mimic pressurized conduction cooldown (PCC) accident scenario for the prismatic modular reactor with a reference to High-Temperature Test Facility at Oregon State University (OSU-HTTF). The current facility was constructed to investigate a plenum-to-plenum (P2P) natural circulation heat transfer through two channels for different coolants (working fluid) at high operating pressure of 413.7 kPa. The natural circulation heat transfer in terms of temperature fields and heat transfer coefficients across the core of current facility (i.e., channels) has been investigated at constant outer surface temperature of upper plenum and downcomer channel (278.15 K) under nonuniform heating center peaking step (approximating cosine shape) using an advanced fast response heat transfer technique. Results showed that a net inner surface temperature gain along the riser channel by 84, 95, 98 and 150K for carbon dioxide, nitrogen, argon, and helium respectively. Also, an average increasing of centerline temperature along the riser channel is observed by 110, 133, 151 and 204 K for carbon dioxide, nitrogen, argon and helium, respectively. Furthermore, the current results show a common heat transfer coefficients trend for all coolants along the riser channel; the local heat transfer coefficient decrease with axial location from the entrance (Z/L = 0.044) until a minimum value at Z/L = 0.279 and after this position, the local heat transfer coefficient starts to increase again till Z/L= 0.591 (laminarization effects). And finally, heat transfer coefficient decrease from Z/L= 0.591 till the exit into the upper plenum. However, it was observed that heat transfer coefficients for helium was higher than all other gases for the entire riser channel and remained positive for much higher heights. In the laminarization effects region (0.279