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Division Spotlight
Isotopes & Radiation
Members are devoted to applying nuclear science and engineering technologies involving isotopes, radiation applications, and associated equipment in scientific research, development, and industrial processes. Their interests lie primarily in education, industrial uses, biology, medicine, and health physics. Division committees include Analytical Applications of Isotopes and Radiation, Biology and Medicine, Radiation Applications, Radiation Sources and Detection, and Thermal Power Sources.
Meeting Spotlight
Utility Working Conference and Vendor Technology Expo (UWC 2024)
August 4–7, 2024
Marco Island, FL|JW Marriott Marco Island
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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Nuclear Science and Engineering
August 2024
Nuclear Technology
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.
Dennis Youchison, Charles Kessel, Paul Nogradi
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 79 | Number 3 | April 2023 | Pages 222-250
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2022.2123683
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Advances in high-performance computing now enable the engineering evaluation of large blanket components from a systems perspective at the beginning of a normal design cycle. As an example, we discuss the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) involved in characterizing the thermal performance of an entire 22.5 toroidal sector of a dual-coolant lead-lithium blanket with particular attention to the integrated manifolding and flow distributions. The inboard sector is roughly 7 m tall, has 321 first-wall helium-cooled channels, and five parallel PbLi breeder channels complete with insulating SiC flow channel inserts. A finite volume model was developed with various degrees of mesh refinement from 36 to 187 million cells to perform the flow calculations on disparate fluids with conjugate heat transfer in the solid. Steady-state CFD calculations were performed using a realizable k-ε turbulence model. Simplifications include a uniform applied surface heat flux and a one-dimensional radial volumetric neutron heating profile. Constant material properties were used for the F82H reduced-activation ferritic martensitic (RAFM) steel walls, SiC flow channel inserts, and the PbLi breeder. Ideal gas behavior was assumed for the helium, which includes compressibility. Helium mass flows of 54 kg/s at 8 MPa and PbLi flows of 3 kg/s at 101 kPa supply the sector, both at an inlet temperature of 350°C.
This early model is not optimized; however, it reveals important features not obvious in a conglomeration of smaller independent models. For example, all the manifolding was included to evaluate flow distributions throughout the full component. Submodels were only used to obtain the convective heat transfer coefficients (HTCs) inside the helium first-wall channels equipped with enhancement vanes that allow the first wall to handle 0.8 MW/m2 of plasma heat flux with the aim of keeping bulk RAFM steel temperatures near the creep-fatigue limit of 550°C. Average HTCs obtained from these detailed submodels were then used in the large model to predict thermal performance without incurring the meshing overhead from the thousands of internal vanes. Although much progress was made, initial results indicate that more must be done to further reduce hot spots on the first wall, minimize pressure drops, and provide optimal flow distributions.