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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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Utility Working Conference and Vendor Technology Expo (UWC 2024)
August 4–7, 2024
Marco Island, FL|JW Marriott Marco Island
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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
ARPA-E announces $40 million to develop transmutation technologies for UNF
The Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E) announced $40 million in funding to develop cutting-edge technologies to enable the transmutation of used nuclear fuel into less-radioactive substances. According to ARPA-E, the new initiative addresses one of the agency’s core goals as outlined by Congress: to provide transformative solutions to improve the management, cleanup, and disposal of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel.
M. Moscardini, S. Pupeschi, Y. Gan, F. A. Hernández, M. Kamlah
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 75 | Number 4 | May 2019 | Pages 283-298
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2019.1565481
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In this work, an in-house thermal–Discrete Element Method (DEM) code, recently developed at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology to evaluate the heat transfer in ceramic packed pebble beds, was applied to study the thermal behavior of the breeder beds of the European solid breeder blanket concept. The breeder zone of the helium-cooled pebble bed (HCPB) blanket for the Demonstration (DEMO) reactor was considered as the reference model implementing the same materials, applying the related neutronic heating, and simulating the relevant bed thicknesses. The code was used to evaluate the temperature profile generated by the neutronic heating in the thickness of the breeder bed. A column cutout of packed pebbles bounded by upper and bottom walls, representing the cooling plates of the HCPB, was considered as a representative geometry to carry out the work. The implemented three-dimensional network model evaluates the heat transfer inside packed beds through chains of thermal resistances describing the thermal contacts (particle-particle and particle-wall) occurring in the assembly. Besides thermal transport through the mechanical contact area, thermal transport through the surrounding gas phase is accounted for including the Smoluchowski effect. Sensitivity studies revealed the influence of the operational conditions and the parameters that mainly affect the temperature profile in the bed.