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Division Spotlight
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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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.
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.