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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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Conference on Nuclear Training and Education: A Biennial International Forum (CONTE 2025)
February 3–6, 2025
Amelia Island, FL|Omni Amelia Island Resort
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Article considers incorporation of AI into nuclear power plant operations
The potential application of artificial intelligence to the operation of nuclear power plants is explored in an article published in late December in the Washington Examiner. The article, written by energy and environment reporter Callie Patteson, presents the views of a number of experts, including Yavuz Arik, a strategic energy consultant.
Roberto Passalacqua, Didier Tarabelli, Claude Renault
Nuclear Technology | Volume 116 | Number 3 | December 1996 | Pages 283-292
Technical Paper | Nuclear Reactor Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT96-A35284
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Large-scale experiments show that whenever a loss of coolant accident occurs water pools are generated. Stratification of steam-saturated gas develops above growing water pools causing a different thermal hydraulics in the subcompartment where the water pool is located. Hereafter, the LWR Aerosols Containment Experiment (LACE) LA4 experiment, performed at the Hanford Engineering Development Laboratory, will be studied; this experiment exhibited a strong stratification, at all times, above a growing water pool. JERICHO and AEROSOLS-B2 are part of the Ensemble de Systèmes de Codes d’Analyse d’Accident des Réacteurs à Eau (ESCADRE) code system, a tool for evaluating the response of a nuclear plant to severe accidents. These two codes are used here to simulate respectively the thermal hydraulics and the associated aerosol behavior. Code results have shown that modeling large containment thermal hydraulics without taking into account the stratification phenomenon leads to large overpredictions of containment pressure and temperature. If the stratification, above the water pool, is modeled as a zone with a higher steam condensation rate and a higher thermal resistance (that is acting as a barrier to heat exchanges with the upper and larger compartment), ESCADRE predictions match experimental data quite well. The stratification region is believed to be able to affect aerosol behavior; aerosol settling is improved by steam condensation on particles and by diffusiophoresis and thermophoresis. In addition, the lower aerosol concentration throughout the stratification might cause a nonnegligible aerosol concentration gradient and consequently a driving force for the motion of smaller particles toward the pool.