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Division Spotlight
Reactor Physics
The division's objectives are to promote the advancement of knowledge and understanding of the fundamental physical phenomena characterizing nuclear reactors and other nuclear systems. The division encourages research and disseminates information through meetings and publications. Areas of technical interest include nuclear data, particle interactions and transport, reactor and nuclear systems analysis, methods, design, validation and operating experience and standards. The Wigner Award heads the awards program.
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
Vogtle-3 shuts down for valve issue
One of the new Vogtle units in Georgia was shut down unexpectedly on Monday last week for a valve issue that has since been investigated and repaired. According to multiple local news outlets, Georgia Power reported on July 17 that Unit 3 was back in service.
Southern Company spokesperson Jacob Hawkins confirmed that Vogtle-3 went off line at 9:25 p.m. local time on July 8 “due to lowering water levels in the steam generators caused by a valve issue on one of the three main feedwater pumps.”
Yifeng Wang, Carlos F. Jove-Colon, Patrick D. Mattie, Robert J. MacKinnon, Michael E. Lord
Nuclear Technology | Volume 171 | Number 2 | August 2010 | Pages 201-219
Technical Paper | Radioactive Waste Management and Disposal | doi.org/10.13182/NT10-A10783
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Water is the most important reacting agent that directly controls radionuclide release from a nuclear waste repository to a human-accessible environment. In this paper, we present a water balance model to calculate the amount of water that can accumulate inside or percolate through a breached waste package in Yucca Mountain repository environments as a function of the temperature and relative humidity in the surrounding waste emplacement drift, the rate of water dripping from seepage, the area of breaches on the waste package, and the extent of waste degradation. The model accounts for sheet flows created as water drips fall onto the waste package surface, water vapor diffusion across waste package breaches, and water vapor equilibrium with unsaturated porous corrosion products. Preliminary model simulation results indicate that a breached waste package may maintain a large part of its barrier capability, and probably <1% of the total seepage flux impinging on the waste package surface can enter the package. Vapor diffusion of water through the breaches can be as important as liquid water flow into the waste package. Waste degradation reactions can consume a significant fraction of water entering the waste package. The water saturation inside waste packages will be low (<0.5), and the advective water flux out of a waste package will be small (with the mean value <0.5 [script l]/yr per package) over a wide range of seepage rates considered (1 to 1000 [script l]/yr). Furthermore, the ionic strength of in-package water will remain relatively high for the first 10000 yr, which will likely destabilize colloid suspensions and limit colloid releases.