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
Isotopes & Radiation
Members are devoted to applying nuclear science and engineering technologies involving isotopes, radiation applications, and associated equipment in scientific research, development, and industrial processes. Their interests lie primarily in education, industrial uses, biology, medicine, and health physics. Division committees include Analytical Applications of Isotopes and Radiation, Biology and Medicine, Radiation Applications, Radiation Sources and Detection, and Thermal Power Sources.
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Jul 2024
Jan 2024
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
August 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
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.
Cheng Peng, Youya Song, Jian Deng, Sen Mao, Jiang Wu
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 197 | Number 6 | June 2023 | Pages 1117-1132
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2022.2143208
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Third-generation advanced pressurized water reactors adopt the external reactor vessel cooling (ERVC) strategy to ensure the pressure vessel is not at risk of melt-through in severe accidents, thereby completely controlling radioactive materials in the pile. However, due to its long-term service, vessel aging, steel corrosion, and oxidation may lead to deformation at different locations on its outer surface, forming various shapes of sawtooth structures, thus affecting the heat transfer behavior of the high-temperature walls during ERVC. In this paper, the Fluent code, coupled with boiling heat and mass transfer equations based on user-defined functions (UDFs) was used to simulate the thermal-hydraulic processes on the lower head with three typical sawtooth structures. The distribution of the stagnation zone for vapor buildup was the main focus. By varying the heat flux installed on the lower head and the inlet velocity of the flow channel, the onset time of critical boiling and the development of the location of critical heat flux over time were further investigated. It was found that a long period of unstable bubble generation and detachment before the onset of critical boiling may occur on the lower head. These findings can provide technical support for the safety design of advanced nuclear reactors.