ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
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.
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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Jun 2024
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Nuclear Science and Engineering
August 2024
Nuclear Technology
July 2024
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
NRC engineers share their expertise at the University of Puerto Rico
Robert Roche-Rivera and Marcos Rolón-Acevedo are licensed professional engineers who work at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. They are also alumni of the University of Puerto Rico–Mayagüez (UPRM) and have been sharing their knowledge and experience with students at their alma mater since last year, serving as adjunct professors in the university’s Department of Mechanical Engineering. During the 2023–2024 school year, they each taught two courses: Fundamentals of Nuclear Science and Engineering, and Nuclear Power Plant Engineering.
Chad A. Nixon, Wade R. Marcum
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 197 | Number 5 | May 2023 | Pages 788-812
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2022.2058846
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Vibration of nuclear power plant components can cause fretting wear and fatigue that can eventually lead to component failure. Flexible, high-aspect-ratio components under flow, such as the wire-wrapped cylindrical fuel elements in a liquid metal-cooled fast reactor core, are particularly susceptible to vibration due to their low natural frequencies. The flow-induced vibrations experienced by such components tend to be random and of low amplitude and frequency; however, at critical flow velocities these components can experience self-excited, fluid-elastic instabilities that can lead to immediate failure. Such failures of critical reactor components, particularly those that act as fission product barriers, can lead to prolonged shutdowns of nuclear power plants and even to their permanent closure. Thus, a better understanding of the vibration response of wire-wrapped cylinders in axial flow is needed. This study details the development of a theoretical model that incorporates the effects of a helical wire wrap along a cylinder to understand its impact on the dynamic response of the cylinder under flow. This theoretical model is compared against experimental vibration data of varying geometries of solitary wire-wrapped cylinders in confined axial flow. The results of this study provide an improved knowledge of how a helical wire wrap can affect the dynamic response of a cylinder under flow.