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Fusion Energy
This division promotes the development and timely introduction of fusion energy as a sustainable energy source with favorable economic, environmental, and safety attributes. The division cooperates with other organizations on common issues of multidisciplinary fusion science and technology, conducts professional meetings, and disseminates technical information in support of these goals. Members focus on the assessment and resolution of critical developmental issues for practical fusion energy applications.
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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
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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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Argonne’s METL gears up to test more sodium fast reactor components
Argonne National Laboratory has successfully swapped out an aging cold trap in the sodium test loop called METL (Mechanisms Engineering Test Loop), the Department of Energy announced April 23. The upgrade is the first of its kind in the United States in more than 30 years, according to the DOE, and will help test components and operations for the sodium-cooled fast reactors being developed now.
Wayne R. Zeuch, Chung-Yi Wang
Nuclear Technology | Volume 51 | Number 3 | December 1980 | Pages 421-432
Technical Paper | Mechanics Applications to Fast Breeder Reactor Safety / Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT80-A32578
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The sodium spillage phenomenon in large liquid-metal fast breeder reactors (LMFBRs) during highly energetic hypothetical accidents has been investigated. A parametric study of the spillage process was accomplished with the ICECO code employing a control-volume method. A 1000-MW(electric) reactor, with prescribed leak paths, is modeled and analyzed during the slug impact phase. Leak paths are assumed to exist as annular penetrations in the reactor cover and as a gap at the vessel-head junction. The behavior of sodium spillage was investigated under conditions of different accident energetics, various opening cross-sectional areas, and multiple leak paths, with both stationary and moving reactor covers. Highly energetic accidents were used as the initiating events for the spillage processes described. The intent is to evaluate the range of applicability of the spillage methodology derived. It is not the intent to imply that such energetic accidents have been identified in any LMFBR safety analysis. The behavior of spillage beyond the initial transient period has also been investigated. During the transient period immediately following slug impact, it was found that spillage from annular penetrations in the reactor cover is only weakly sensitive to changes in slug velocity. The same conclusion applies to spillage from a fixed gap at the vessel-head junction. Quantity of sodium spilled during a fixed time was seen to vary proportionally with opening size. Significant sensitivity of spillage to accident energetics was seen only in cases of spillage from the vessel-head junction when the reactor cover was movable. The influence of slug impact on the motion of the reactor cover leads to the conclusion that sodium spillage is most sensitive to accident energetics inasmuch as the area of the leak path is affected. Preliminary results from sodium fire calculations indicate that spray ejection from penetrations in the reactor cover will not cause significant pressurization of the secondary containment from sodium ejected during the initial transient.
