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Conference Spotlight
2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
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Latest News
IAEA again raises global nuclear power projections
Noting recent momentum behind nuclear power, the International Atomic Energy Agency has revised up its projections for the expansion of nuclear power, estimating that global nuclear operational capacity will more than double by 2050—reaching 2.6 times the 2024 level—with small modular reactors expected to play a pivotal role in this high-case scenario.
IAEA director general Rafael Mariano Grossi announced the new projections, contained in the annual report Energy, Electricity, and Nuclear Power Estimates for the Period up to 2050 at the 69th IAEA General Conference in Vienna.
In the report’s high-case scenario, nuclear electrical generating capacity is projected to increase to from 377 GW at the end of 2024 to 992 GW by 2050. In a low-case scenario, capacity rises 50 percent, compared with 2024, to 561 GW. SMRs are projected to account for 24 percent of the new capacity added in the high case and for 5 percent in the low case.
Robert E. Canaan, Dale E. Klein
Nuclear Technology | Volume 123 | Number 2 | August 1998 | Pages 193-208
Technical Paper | Radioactive Waste Management and Disposal | doi.org/10.13182/NT98-A2892
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A numerical investigation of natural convection heat transfer is carried out for a single, horizontal, spent-fuel assembly in an environment typical of spent-fuel transportation systems as well as some dry storage/disposal scenarios. The objective is to predict computationally the convective heat transfer trends for horizontal spent fuel and to compare the results to data taken in a supporting experimental effort. The predicted data consist of thermal and flow fields throughout the assembly for a wide range of Rayleigh number, as well as numerically obtained Nusselt-number data that are correlated as a function of Rayleigh number. Both laminar and turbulent approaches are examined for a Boussinesq fluid with Pr = 0.7. The data predict the existence of a conduction-dominated regime, a transition regime, and a convection regime. Compared with the laminar approach, a significant improvement in the predicted Nusselt number is obtained for large Rayleigh numbers when a turbulence model is employed. This lends additional support to the experimental evidence that a transition to turbulent flow occurs for Rayleigh numbers greater than 107. Overall, the numerically predicted heat transfer trends compare well with previously obtained experimental data, and the computed assembly Nusselt numbers generally reside within the range of experimental uncertainty. The predicted thermal and flow fields further provide a numerical flow visualization capability that enhances the understanding of natural convection in horizontal spent fuel and allows improved physical interpretation of the experimental data.
