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Nuclear Criticality Safety
NCSD provides communication among nuclear criticality safety professionals through the development of standards, the evolution of training methods and materials, the presentation of technical data and procedures, and the creation of specialty publications. In these ways, the division furthers the exchange of technical information on nuclear criticality safety with the ultimate goal of promoting the safe handling of fissionable materials outside reactors.
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Utility Working Conference and Vendor Technology Expo (UWC 2024)
August 4–7, 2024
Marco Island, FL|JW Marriott Marco Island
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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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Oklo completes end-to-end demonstration of advanced fuel recycling
Oklo Inc. has announced that it has completed the first end-to-end demonstration of its advanced fuel recycling process as part of an ongoing $5 million project in collaboration with Argonne and Idaho National Laboratories. Oklo’s goal: scaling up its fuel recycling capabilities to deploy a commercial-scale recycling facility that would increase advanced reactor fuel supplies and enhance fuel cost effectiveness for its planned sodium fast reactors.
Kune Y. Suh
Nuclear Technology | Volume 106 | Number 3 | June 1994 | Pages 274-291
Technical Paper | Nuclear Reactor Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT94-A34958
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A fast-running computational model has been developed that deals with the nuclear steam supply system heat sink as a two-dimensional slice of steel with its inner and outer surfaces subjected to different thermal and material boundary conditions imposed by such surrounding media as core material, steel layer, water, and gas. This model is generally applicable to two- or one-dimensional heat sinks in the process of heatup and cooldown including liquefaction and resolidification. The numerical model and its solution technique were validated against a set of well-defined initial and boundary value problems. The computer model was applied to analyzing the temperature response of the lower head in a pressurized water reactor large-break loss of coolant accident (LOCA) with ex-vessel cooling. It was of importance to properly account for radiative heat transfer between the two exposed surfaces of the heat sink and the debris bed in the lower plenum, incorporating the physically based view factors, and to allow the heat sink to melt and relocate to the lower plenum. The model was also applied to analyzing the thermal behavior of the lower head in a boiling water reactor large-break LOCA without ex-vessel cooling. It was indicated that the vessel lower head could undergo a noticeable ablation due to the decay power generated from the debris bed in the absence of external cooling. The computer model was demonstrated to produce consistent results for the applications of practical interest in the severe accident arena.