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
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
Latest Magazine Issues
Apr 2026
Jan 2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
May 2026
Nuclear Technology
March 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Chernobyl at 40 years: Looking back at Nuclear News
Sunday, April 26, at 1:23 a.m. local time will mark 40 years since the most severe nuclear accident in history: the meltdown of Unit 4 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union.
In the ensuing four decades, countless books, documentaries, articles, and conference sessions have examined Chernobyl’s history and impact from various angles. There is a similar abundance of outlooks in the archives of Nuclear News, where hundreds of scientists, advocates, critics, and politicians have shared their thoughts on Chernobyl over the years. Today, we will take a look at some highlights from the pages of NN to see how the story of Chernobyl evolved over the decades.
Xiang Zhang, Daogui Tian, Yanfang Xue, Lian Chen, Yuquan Li (SNPTC)
Proceedings | Advances in Thermal Hydraulics 2018 | Orlando, FL, November 11-15, 2018 | Pages 1215-1233
In the present study, a two phase transient three-dimensional CFD simulation is carried out to numerically investigate the saturated downward facing pool boiling on a hemispherical heating surface. This simulation is performed within the OpenFOAM framework and a two phase Euler-Euler approach (Volume of Fluid (VOF) model) has been chosen in this research. This code can be used to predict the distribution of the local flow parameters, such as the void fraction, bubble diameter, the velocity of both liquid and gas, the turbulent intensity as well as liquid temperature. Special attention has been devoted to the two phase flow characteristics and vapor morphology along the overheated hemispherical curved surface. For the validation of boiling phenomena, the results of CFD simulation are compared with the visualizations of subscale boundary layer boiling experiment conducted by State Nuclear Power Technology Research & Development Center (SNPTRD) in China. Simulation results show that vapor behavior along the hemispherical curved surface is cyclical, repeatedly forming a stratified vapor layer at the bottom center, which stretches as more vapor is generated, and then flows upwards along from the convex surface. These numerical results show good agreements with the experimental data. Moreover, detailed analysis focusing on the pressure, velocity, void fraction, heating wall temperature as well as the two phase natural circulation flow characteristics are proposed in this paper. It is found that the vapor behavior of downward facing pool boiling on a hemispherical surface is quite different from those on other surface orientations in many respects including the bubble shape, velocity, rise distance and moving trajectory.