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Division Spotlight
Thermal Hydraulics
The division provides a forum for focused technical dialogue on thermal hydraulic technology in the nuclear industry. Specifically, this will include heat transfer and fluid mechanics involved in the utilization of nuclear energy. It is intended to attract the highest quality of theoretical and experimental work to ANS, including research on basic phenomena and application to nuclear system design.
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ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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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
Norway’s Halden reactor takes first step toward decommissioning
The government of Norway has granted the transfer of the Halden research reactor from the Institute for Energy Technology (IFE) to the state agency Norwegian Nuclear Decommissioning (NND). The 25-MWt Halden boiling water reactor operated from 1958 to 2018 and was used in the research of nuclear fuel, reactor internals, plant procedures and monitoring, and human factors.
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.