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Fusion Energy
This division promotes the development and timely introduction of fusion energy as a sustainable energy source with favorable economic, environmental, and safety attributes. The division cooperates with other organizations on common issues of multidisciplinary fusion science and technology, conducts professional meetings, and disseminates technical information in support of these goals. Members focus on the assessment and resolution of critical developmental issues for practical fusion energy applications.
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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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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.
J. Michael Doster, Peter K. Kendall
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 132 | Number 1 | May 1999 | Pages 105-117
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE99-A2052
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Natural circulation is important for the long-term cooling of light water reactors in off-normal conditions, and it is therefore important to understand the numerical behavior of reactor safety codes used to simulate flows under those conditions. While the methods and models in these codes have been studied in some detail, the impact of the weight force term on the numerical behavior has been largely ignored. The dynamic and numerical stability of the one-dimensional, single-phase-flow equations are examined for natural-circulation problems. It is shown that the presence of the weight force in the momentum equation results in a minimum value of the frictional loss coefficient for the equations to be stable. It is further shown that the numerical solution is unstable unless this dynamic stability limit is satisfied. The stability limits developed are verified by numerical solution of the single-phase-flow equations under natural-circulation conditions.