ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Jul 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
September 2025
Nuclear Technology
August 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Deep Space: The new frontier of radiation controls
In commercial nuclear power, there has always been a deliberate tension between the regulator and the utility owner. The regulator fundamentally exists to protect the worker, and the utility, to make a profit. It is a win-win balance.
From the U.S. nuclear industry has emerged a brilliantly successful occupational nuclear safety record—largely the result of an ALARA (as low as reasonably achievable) process that has driven exposure rates down to what only a decade ago would have been considered unthinkable. In the U.S. nuclear industry, the system has accomplished an excellent, nearly seamless process that succeeds to the benefit of both employee and utility owner.
Mie Azuma, Atsushi Taniguchi, Akitoshi Hotta, Takeshi Ohta
Nuclear Technology | Volume 149 | Number 3 | March 2005 | Pages 243-252
Technical Paper | Fission Reactors | doi.org/10.13182/NT05-A3593
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The integrity of the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) head and reactor internals was assessed by means of fluid and fluid-structural coupled analyses to evaluate the water hammer phenomenon arising from postulated high burnup fuel failure under reactivity initiated accident (RIA) conditions. The fluid viscosity effect on the water column burst as well as the complex three-dimensional flow paths caused by a core shroud and standpipes were considered in this study. It is shown that fluid viscosity becomes an influential factor to dissipate impacting kinetic energy. Integrity of the RPV head and the shroud head was ensured with a sufficient level of margin even under these excessively conservative RIA conditions.
