ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
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Division Spotlight
Operations & Power
Members focus on the dissemination of knowledge and information in the area of power reactors with particular application to the production of electric power and process heat. The division sponsors meetings on the coverage of applied nuclear science and engineering as related to power plants, non-power reactors, and other nuclear facilities. It encourages and assists with the dissemination of knowledge pertinent to the safe and efficient operation of nuclear facilities through professional staff development, information exchange, and supporting the generation of viable solutions to current issues.
Meeting Spotlight
International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering (M&C 2025)
April 27–30, 2025
Denver, CO|The Westin Denver Downtown
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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May 2025
Nuclear Technology
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Latest News
TerraPower begins U.K. regulatory approval process
Seattle-based TerraPower signaled its interest this week in building its Natrium small modular reactor in the United Kingdom, the company announced.
TerraPower sent a letter to the U.K.’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, formally establishing its intention to enter the U.K. generic design assessment (GDA) process. This is TerraPower’s first step in deployment of its Natrium technology—a 345-MW sodium fast reactor coupled with a molten salt energy storage unit—on the international stage.
Liang Shi, J. Michael Doster, Charles W. Mayo
Nuclear Technology | Volume 127 | Number 1 | July 1999 | Pages 24-37
Technical Paper | Thermal Hydraulics | doi.org/10.13182/NT99-A2981
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
To estimate the range of impact velocities of potential reactor loose parts (LPs) requires information on regional flow velocities, LP mass, and LP drag coefficients. Flow velocities and the mass of potential LPs can generally be bounded and therefore are assumed to be known. In this work, drag coefficients for prototype LP shapes, including objects such as bolts, nuts, pins, and hand tools, were measured in the fluid velocity range typical of reactor coolant systems. Unlike drag coefficients measured for stationary objects, or by moving a body through a stagnant fluid, these experiments are performed on objects moving freely in a turbulent flow stream. In general, the measured drag coefficients for all tested LP shapes are shown to be close to the standard drag coefficient for a sphere, especially in the low-Reynolds-number region. However, significant differences exist in the wake transition region, which indicates that the drag coefficient for a freely moving body in turbulent flow is different from the drag coefficient for a confined body under the same flow conditions or for a body moving in a stagnant fluid.