ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
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Division Spotlight
Operations & Power
Members focus on the dissemination of knowledge and information in the area of power reactors with particular application to the production of electric power and process heat. The division sponsors meetings on the coverage of applied nuclear science and engineering as related to power plants, non-power reactors, and other nuclear facilities. It encourages and assists with the dissemination of knowledge pertinent to the safe and efficient operation of nuclear facilities through professional staff development, information exchange, and supporting the generation of viable solutions to current issues.
Meeting Spotlight
Conference on Nuclear Training and Education: A Biennial International Forum (CONTE 2025)
February 3–6, 2025
Amelia Island, FL|Omni Amelia Island Resort
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
Wyoming OKs construction of TerraPower’s Natrium plant
Progress continues for TerraPower’s Natrium plant, with the latest win coming in the form of a state permit for construction of nonnuclear portions of the advanced reactor.
Michael L. Corradini, Warren M. Rohsenow, Neil E. Todreas
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 73 | Number 3 | March 1980 | Pages 242-258
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE80-A19849
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A major portion of the safety analysis effort for the liquid-metal fast breeder reactor is involved in assessing the consequences of a hypothetical core disruptive accident. A postulated loss-of-flow transient without scram may produce a two-phase fuel source at high pressures. The heat transfer process between the fuel and the sodium coolant as it is ejected into the upper plenum is described in this study. One mechanism that can cause the coolant to become entrained in the two-phase fuel is Taylor instabilities. The characteristic size of the entrained coolant droplets is considered to be equal to the critical wavelength of a Taylor instability. Analysis of full-scale reactor conditions indicates that the dominant heat transfer mechanism is radiation. Also, if noncondensible gases are absent, fuel vapor condensation on the sodium coolant droplets is controlled by mass diffusion, hence the subsequent rate of coolant vaporization is small. The net effect of the heat transfer is to reduce the fuel vapor pressure and reduce the expansion work by a factor of 1.2 to 2.5. Small-scale simulant experiments utilizing refrigerants could confirm the fuel condensation/sodium vaporization behavior, while reactor material tests must be done to investigate the radiation heat transfer mechanism.