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Division Spotlight
Nuclear Installations Safety
Devoted specifically to the safety of nuclear installations and the health and safety of the public, this division seeks a better understanding of the role of safety in the design, construction and operation of nuclear installation facilities. The division also promotes engineering and scientific technology advancement associated with the safety of such facilities.
Meeting Spotlight
2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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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Latest News
College students help develop waste measuring device at Hanford
A partnership between Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) and Washington State University has resulted in the development of a device to measure radioactive and chemical tank waste at the Hanford Site. WRPS is the contractor at Hanford for the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management.
G. Mignot, S. Balderama (Oregon State Univ), N. Woolstenhulme (INL), W. Marcum (Oregon State Univ)
Proceedings | Advances in Thermal Hydraulics 2018 | Orlando, FL, November 11-15, 2018 | Pages 892-903
Pulse generated in the Transient Reactor Test facility at Idaho National Laboratory can reach a minimum full width at half maximum of 100 ms. for a maximum power of 5500 MW with the current configuration. To reproduce conditions of a Reactivity Insertion Accident postulated for Light Water Reactor, the width of the pulse shall decrease down below 50 ms. to increase even more the maximum power. To reach this goal, it is intended to initiate higher power transient that could quickly be clipped to maintain the total energy deposition within the 2500 MJ limit of the reactor operation license. One of the pulse clipping options under consideration is the implementation of a fast-negative reactivity insertion system by injecting helium 3 in the core. Initial calculation shows that to ensure fast clipping of the pulse, the new system, in a form of a cartridge pre-inserted in the core, shall undergo a quick pressurization from near vacuum to minimum density of 2.2 kg/m3 in less than 5 ms. The HENRI (Helium 3 Negative Reactivity Insertion) facility has been designed and built at the Oregon State University to test the feasibility of such system, design a fast response pressurization system and test the repeatability of the process. To support this task, preliminary CFD calculations are performed. In this first stage of the project, only the gas dynamics part of the process is considered. Initial results show that the ultimate atomic density could physically be reached within the 5 ms. limit assuming an ultra-fast opening device.