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
Thermal Hydraulics
The division provides a forum for focused technical dialogue on thermal hydraulic technology in the nuclear industry. Specifically, this will include heat transfer and fluid mechanics involved in the utilization of nuclear energy. It is intended to attract the highest quality of theoretical and experimental work to ANS, including research on basic phenomena and application to nuclear system design.
Meeting Spotlight
Utility Working Conference and Vendor Technology Expo (UWC 2024)
August 4–7, 2024
Marco Island, FL|JW Marriott Marco Island
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
ARPA-E announces $40 million to develop transmutation technologies for UNF
The Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E) announced $40 million in funding to develop cutting-edge technologies to enable the transmutation of used nuclear fuel into less-radioactive substances. According to ARPA-E, the new initiative addresses one of the agency’s core goals as outlined by Congress: to provide transformative solutions to improve the management, cleanup, and disposal of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel.
W. R. Marcum, P. Y. Byfield, S. R. Reese
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 180 | Number 2 | June 2015 | Pages 123-140
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE14-93
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Oregon State University (OSU) has developed and patented a technology that produces 99Mo within a standard TRIGA reactor core and does not negatively impact safety bases for the operations of such reactor designs. This new technology, referred to as the “molybdenum element,” is intended on being demonstrated within the OSU TRIGA Reactor (OSTR) with figures of merit including 99Mo yield and operation. A comprehensive design and thermal-hydraulic analysis has been conducted to characterize the safety-related traits of the molybdenum element to facilitate a license amendment through the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to insert such an experiment in the OSTR. This study details the thermal-hydraulic characteristics of the molybdenum element exhibited within the OSTR under the three sets of conditions necessary to demonstrate the element's safety. The study leverages the lumped-parameter code RELAP5-3D Version 2.4.2 for conduct of the primary body of this work. The first condition analyzes the molybdenum element's response under steady-state, full-power operation; the second condition assumes that the inner region of the annular molybdenum element is blocked while remaining at full power; and the last condition considers several loss-of-coolant-accident scenarios. Key thermal-hydraulic parameters that may impact the safety of the OSTR are identified, presented, and discussed herein. The result of this study provides objective evidence through use of RELAP5-3D that the molybdenum element remains in a safe state during the steady and abnormal conditions considered.