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Division Spotlight
Fuel Cycle & Waste Management
Devoted to all aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle including waste management, worldwide. Division specific areas of interest and involvement include uranium conversion and enrichment; fuel fabrication, management (in-core and ex-core) and recycle; transportation; safeguards; high-level, low-level and mixed waste management and disposal; public policy and program management; decontamination and decommissioning environmental restoration; and excess weapons materials disposition.
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2024 ANS Winter Conference and Expo
November 17–21, 2024
Orlando, FL|Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld
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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Latest News
New laws offer nuclear industry incentives for existing power plant uprates
This year, the U.S. nuclear industry received a much-needed economic boost that could help preserve operating nuclear power plants and incentivize upgrades that extend their lifespan and power output.
Signed into law in 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act offers production tax credits (PTCs) for existing nuclear power plants and either PTCs or investment tax credits (ITCs) for new carbon-free generation. These credits could make power uprates—increasing the maximum power level at which a commercial plant may operate—a much more appealing option for utilities.
Amir N. Nahavandi
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 36 | Number 2 | May 1969 | Pages 159-188
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE69-A19715
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A generalized digital computer approach to analyze the loss-of-coolant accident in pressurized water reactors requires a systematic specification of the plant geometric, physical, and topological characteristics and initial conditions. The solution of the problem is hampered by numerical stability and convergence problems which can be remedied by first classifying the problem variables into three categories: 1) numerically-integrated; 2) analytically-integrated; and 3) auxiliary algebraic variables. Second, in view of the occurrence of the acoustic wave phenomenon, the maximum allowable integration time step should be kept much smaller than the subharmonics present in the solution. Another distinctive feature of this study is the treatment of stratified elements, such as the pressurizer or the steam generator secondary. Allowance for mass exchange between the top and bottom control volumes in these elements is made by the introduction of bubble rise and condensate drop velocity concepts. Furthermore, to eliminate unrealistic pressure fluctuations in the ruptured elements at the onset of two-phase blowdown, critical flow models including inertia effects are introduced. To verify the sensitivity of the solution to various two-phase frictional loss correlations, five well-known correlations are reviewed. A comparison of the analytical results against LOFT experimental data demonstrates a good agreement and shows that a more accurate prediction would require the introduction of metastability analysis.