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Aerospace Nuclear Science & Technology
Organized to promote the advancement of knowledge in the use of nuclear science and technologies in the aerospace application. Specialized nuclear-based technologies and applications are needed to advance the state-of-the-art in aerospace design, engineering and operations to explore planetary bodies in our solar system and beyond, plus enhance the safety of air travel, especially high speed air travel. Areas of interest will include but are not limited to the creation of nuclear-based power and propulsion systems, multifunctional materials to protect humans and electronic components from atmospheric, space, and nuclear power system radiation, human factor strategies for the safety and reliable operation of nuclear power and propulsion plants by non-specialized personnel and more.
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ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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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Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Discovering, Making, and Testing New Materials: SRNL’s Center For Hierarchical Waste Form Materials
Savannah River National Laboratory researchers are building on the laboratory’s legacy of using cutting-edge science to effectively immobilize nuclear waste in innovative ways. As part of the Center for Hierarchical Waste Form Materials, SRNL is leveraging its depth of experience in radiological waste management to explore new frontiers in the industry.
D. L. Youchison, M. A. Ulrickson, J. H. Bullock
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 60 | Number 1 | July 2011 | Pages 177-184
Divertor & High Heat Flux Components | Proceedings of the Nineteenth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (TOFE) (Part 1) | doi.org/10.13182/FST11-A12348
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Several commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes now have the capability to analyze Eulerian two-phase flow using the Rohsenow nucleate boiling model. Analysis of boiling due to one-sided heating in plasma facing components (pfcs) is now receiving attention during the design of water-cooled first wall panels for ITER that may encounter heat fluxes as high as 5 MW/m2. Empirical thermalhydraulic design correlations developed for long fission reactor channels are not reliable when applied to pfcs because fully developed flow conditions seldom exist. Star-CCM+ is one of the commercial CFD codes that can model two-phase flows. Like others, it implements the RPI model for nucleate boiling, but it also seamlessly transitions to a volume-of-fluid model for film boiling. By benchmarking the results of our 3d models against recent experiments on critical heat flux for both smooth rectangular channels and hypervapotrons, we determined the six unique input parameters that accurately characterize the boiling physics for ITER flow conditions under a wide range of absorbed heat flux. We can now exploit this capability to predict the onset of critical heat flux in these components. In addition, the results clearly illustrate the production and transport of vapor and its effect on heat transfer in pfcs from nucleate boiling through transition to film boiling.This article describes the boiling physics implemented in CCM+ and compares the computational results to the benchmark experiments carried out independently in the United States and Russia. Temperature distributions agreed to within 10 °C for a wide range of heat fluxes from 3 MW/m2 to 10 MW/m2 and flow velocities from 1 m/s to 10 m/s in these devices. Although the analysis is incapable of capturing the stochastic nature of critical heat flux (i.e., time and location may depend on a local materials defect or turbulence phenomenon), it is highly reliable in determining the heat flux where boiling instabilities begin to dominate. Beyond this threshold, higher heat fluxes lead to the boiling crisis and eventual burnout. This predictive capability is essential in determining the critical heat flux margin for the design of complex 3d components.
