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Division Spotlight
Human Factors, Instrumentation & Controls
Improving task performance, system reliability, system and personnel safety, efficiency, and effectiveness are the division's main objectives. Its major areas of interest include task design, procedures, training, instrument and control layout and placement, stress control, anthropometrics, psychological input, and motivation.
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.
Wayne R. Zeuch
Nuclear Technology | Volume 51 | Number 3 | December 1980 | Pages 476-488
Technical Paper | Mechanics Applications to Fast Breeder Reactor Safety / Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT80-A32583
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
There has been an emphasis, recently, on the calculation of potential hazards beyond the primary containment of liquid-metal fast breeder reactors. A number of analyses have been conducted in order to follow the progression of a highly energetic core disruptive accident from its inception to its consequences in secondary containment. The investigation is limited to the direct mechanical effects of the initial core disassembly phase. An effort has been made to develop an integrated treatment of the accident sequence by extending the capability of primary containment codes, when necessary, to treat as broad a range of accident phenomena as possible. Beginning with the initiation phase, the release of energy to reactor internals and primary containment boundary is discussed. Emphasis must be placed on highly energetic accidents if the intent is to generate such severe phenomena as missiles and sodium spillage. Characterization of energetic events is accomplished by deriving work potential as a function of reactivity insertion in the reactor core. This source term is used for the primary containment analysis. Energy partitioning for hypothetical core disruptive accidents within the primary containment provides information concerning the system integrity and the potential for consequences that go beyond the primary containment boundary. The behavior of the reactor cover deserves special attention. During the slug impact phase, forces transmitted to the head would be the source for potential missiles and can open leak paths for sodium spillage. Studies on missile generation and sodium spillage are currently being performed to estimate the potential effects on secondary containment. Scoping calculations of generic missiles, generated by sodium slug impact loadings, as well as the coupled motion of an unrestrained reactor plug during the impact transient have been completed. Modeling of penetrations in the reactor cover for sodium spillage has been accomplished and spillage due to sodium impact on the reactor cover has been investigated.
