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Nuclear Installations Safety
Devoted specifically to the safety of nuclear installations and the health and safety of the public, this division seeks a better understanding of the role of safety in the design, construction and operation of nuclear installation facilities. The division also promotes engineering and scientific technology advancement associated with the safety of such facilities.
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ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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Latest News
First astatine-labeled compound shipped in the U.S.
The Department of Energy’s National Isotope Development Center (NIDC) on March 31 announced the successful long-distance shipment in the United States of a biologically active compound labeled with the medical radioisotope astatine-211 (At-211). Because previous shipments have included only the “bare” isotope, the NIDC has described the development as “unleashing medical innovation.”
Kresna Atkhen, Georges Berthoud
Nuclear Technology | Volume 142 | Number 3 | June 2003 | Pages 270-282
Technical Paper | Thermal Hydraulics | doi.org/10.13182/NT03-A3389
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Within the framework of severe reactor accident studies, we present experimental and numerical parametric studies on debris bed coolability. Data are provided by the SILFIDE multidimensional experimental facility at Electricité de France. The bed is composed of inductively heated steel sphere beads (diameters ranging from 2 to 7.18 mm) contained in a 50- × 60- × 10-cm vessel. Numerical computations are obtained with MC3D REPO developed by Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique.Because of heterogeneous power distribution within the bed, two definitions (mean and local) for the critical heat flux (CHF) are proposed. Even in the first case, the CHF was higher than the Lipinsky one-dimensional flux. As the power is being increased, temperature plateaus above saturation temperature are observed. An analysis is proposed, based on possible different hydrodynamic flow configurations occurring in postdryout regimes. In some experiments, some spheres were superficially molten and stacked together, but globally, the bed was still coolable.The influence of operational parameters such as bottom coolant injection, height of the water, fluidization of upper particles, and subcooled liquid injection on dryout phenomena and CHF values are also described.The MC3D-REPO calculations assuming a thermal equilibrium between the three phases gives results in accordance with experimental data.