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Division Spotlight
Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy
The mission of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy Division (NNPD) is to promote the peaceful use of nuclear technology while simultaneously preventing the diversion and misuse of nuclear material and technology through appropriate safeguards and security, and promotion of nuclear nonproliferation policies. To achieve this mission, the objectives of the NNPD are to: Promote policy that discourages the proliferation of nuclear technology and material to inappropriate entities. Provide information to ANS members, the technical community at large, opinion leaders, and decision makers to improve their understanding of nuclear nonproliferation issues. Become a recognized technical resource on nuclear nonproliferation, safeguards, and security issues. Serve as the integration and coordination body for nuclear nonproliferation activities for the ANS. Work cooperatively with other ANS divisions to achieve these objective nonproliferation policies.
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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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.
Ronald F. Kulak
Nuclear Technology | Volume 51 | Number 3 | December 1980 | Pages 378-387
Technical Paper | Mechanics Applications to Fast Breeder Reactor Safety / Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT80-A32574
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Evaluation of the structural safety of reactors often involves the analysis of various types of fluid-structural components interacting in three-dimensional space. For example, in the design of a pool-type reactor several vital in-tank components such as the primary pumps and the intermediate heat exchangers are contained within the primary tank. Typically, these components are suspended from the deck structure and largely submersed in the sodium pool. Because of this positioning these components are vulnerable to structural damage due to pressure wave propagation in the tank during a hypothetical core disruptive accident. To assess the transient response of these components, it is necessary to perform a dynamic analysis in three-dimensional space that accounts for the fluid-structure coupling. A formulation for a three-dimensional Lagrangian hydrodynamic element was applied to the above safety problem. A model that has many of the salient features of this fluid-structural component system was developed and then analyzed using the NEPTUNE computer code. The primary tank and the in-tank component were modeled as deformable elastoplastic structures, the sodium pool as an inviscid, compressible fluid, while the deck was taken to be rigid and fixed in space. The transient response of the model showed that although the pressure waves loaded the in-tank component so that it moved toward the primary tank, they also loaded the primary tank and moved it away from the component preventing structural damage due to impact between the component and tank.