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Human Factors, Instrumentation & Controls
Improving task performance, system reliability, system and personnel safety, efficiency, and effectiveness are the division's main objectives. Its major areas of interest include task design, procedures, training, instrument and control layout and placement, stress control, anthropometrics, psychological input, and motivation.
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International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering (M&C 2025)
April 27–30, 2025
Denver, CO|The Westin Denver Downtown
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Argonne’s METL gears up to test more sodium fast reactor components
Argonne National Laboratory has successfully swapped out an aging cold trap in the sodium test loop called METL (Mechanisms Engineering Test Loop), the Department of Energy announced April 23. The upgrade is the first of its kind in the United States in more than 30 years, according to the DOE, and will help test components and operations for the sodium-cooled fast reactors being developed now.
H. Mösinger
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 76 | Number 2 | November 1980 | Pages 89-102
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE80-A19443
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A model for two-phase (water-vapor) flow in two-dimensional Cartesian or cylindrical coordinates is described that is implemented in the code DRIX-2D. The model includes slip between the phases and accounts for thermodynamic nonequilibrium. The code was designed as a “best-estimate” model for simulation of loss-of-coolant accidents (LOCAs) in light water reactor safety analysis. In this paper results of DRIX-2D applications are reported that can be used to assess the validity of simplified LOCA models. The main results are that both Cartesian and axisymmetric coordinates in two dimensions show considerable disadvantages as far as the pressure history in the downcomer is concerned. Yet, both models yield acceptable results concerning the gross blowdown behavior. Due to a 90-deg change in flow direction, considerable radial profiles in mass flow rate, velocity, and void fraction establish in the blowdown pipe. Nevertheless, a minor difference in the averaged mass flow rate exists only between a one- and two-dimensionally modeled blowdown pipe. A nonequilibrium state establishes at the pipe inlet in the case of subcooled vessel conditions and is maintained up to the orifice at least for pipe lengths <5m. However, the increase in mass flow rate caused by this nonequilibrium state is generally small enough for typical reactor conditions, so that an equilibrium assumption in the blowdown pipe should be appropriate for LOCA calculations.