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Division Spotlight
Young Members Group
The Young Members Group works to encourage and enable all young professional members to be actively involved in the efforts and endeavors of the Society at all levels (Professional Divisions, ANS Governance, Local Sections, etc.) as they transition from the role of a student to the role of a professional. It sponsors non-technical workshops and meetings that provide professional development and networking opportunities for young professionals, collaborates with other Divisions and Groups in developing technical and non-technical content for topical and national meetings, encourages its members to participate in the activities of the Groups and Divisions that are closely related to their professional interests as well as in their local sections, introduces young members to the rules and governance structure of the Society, and nominates young professionals for awards and leadership opportunities available to members.
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
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.
K. L. Thomsen
Nuclear Technology | Volume 137 | Number 1 | January 2002 | Pages 28-46
Technical Paper | Thermal Hydraulics | doi.org/10.13182/NT02-A3255
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Two partial models have been developed to elucidate the Three Mile Island Unit 2 lower head coolability by water percolation from above into the thermally cracking debris bed and into a gap between the debris and the wall. The bulk permeability of the cracked top crust is estimated based on simple fracture mechanics and application of Poiseuille's law to the fractures. The gap is considered as an abstraction representing an initially rugged interface, which probably expanded by thermal deformation and cracking in connection with the water ingress. The coupled flow and heat conduction problem for the top crust is solved in slab geometry based on the two-phase Darcy equations together with quasi-steady mass and energy conservation equations. The resulting water penetration depth is in good agreement with the depth of the so-called loose debris bed. The lower-head and bottom-crust problem is treated analogously by a two-dimensional axisymmetric model. The notion of a gap is maintained as a useful concept in the flow analysis. Simulations show that a central hot spot with a peak wall temperature of 1075 to 1100°C can be obtained, but the quenching rates are not satisfactory. It is concluded that a three-dimensional model with an additional mechanism to explain the sudden water ingress to the hot spot center would be more appropriate.