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Division Spotlight
Robotics & Remote Systems
The Mission of the Robotics and Remote Systems Division is to promote the development and application of immersive simulation, robotics, and remote systems for hazardous environments for the purpose of reducing hazardous exposure to individuals, reducing environmental hazards and reducing the cost of performing work.
Meeting Spotlight
ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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
First astatine-labeled compound shipped in the U.S.
The Department of Energy’s National Isotope Development Center (NIDC) on March 31 announced the successful long-distance shipment in the United States of a biologically active compound labeled with the medical radioisotope astatine-211 (At-211). Because previous shipments have included only the “bare” isotope, the NIDC has described the development as “unleashing medical innovation.”
Tri Nguyen, Elia Merzari
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 197 | Number 10 | October 2023 | Pages 2634-2659
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2023.2186200
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The design of advanced nuclear reactors [Generation IV (Gen IV)] involves an array of challenging fluid-flow issues that affect its safety and performance. Given that Gen IV designs have improved passive safety features, the downcomer plays a crucial role in loss-of-power scenarios. Fluid-flow behavior in the downcomer can involve forced to mixed to natural convection, and characterizing the heat transfer for these changing regimes is a daunting challenge. The creation of a high-resolution heat transfer numerical database can potentially support the development of precise and affordable reduced-resolution heat transfer models. These models can be designed based on a multiscale hierarchy developed as part of the recently U.S. Department of Energy–funded Center of Excellence for Thermal Fluids Applications in Nuclear Energy, which can help address industrial-driven issues associated with the heat transfer behavior of advanced reactors. In this paper, the downcomer is simplified to heated parallel plates, and high Prandtl number fluid (FLiBe) is considered for all simulations. The calculations are performed for a wide range of Richardson numbers from 0 to 400 at two different FLiBe Prandtl numbers (12 and 24), which result in 40 simulated cases in total. Time-averaged and time series statistics, as well as Nusselt number correlations, are investigated to illuminate mixed convection behavior. The calculated database will be instrumental in understanding flow behavior in the downcomer. Ultimately, we aim to evaluate existing heat transfer correlations, and some modifications are proposed.