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Division Spotlight
Thermal Hydraulics
The division provides a forum for focused technical dialogue on thermal hydraulic technology in the nuclear industry. Specifically, this will include heat transfer and fluid mechanics involved in the utilization of nuclear energy. It is intended to attract the highest quality of theoretical and experimental work to ANS, including research on basic phenomena and application to nuclear system design.
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ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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
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.”
Chang H. Oh, Richard L. Moore
Nuclear Technology | Volume 149 | Number 3 | March 2005 | Pages 324-336
Technical Paper | Thermal Hydraulics | doi.org/10.13182/NT05-A3599
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This paper describes research on improving the Brayton cycle efficiency for a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR). In this study, we are investigating the efficiency of an indirect helium Brayton cycle for the power conversion side of an HTGR power plant. A reference case based on a 250-MW(thermal) pebble bed HTGR was developed using helium gas as a working fluid in both the primary and power conversion sides. The commercial computer code HYSYS was used for process optimization. A numerical model using the Visual-Basic (V-B) computer language was also developed to assist in the evaluation of the Brayton cycle efficiency. Results from both the HYSYS simulation and the V-B model were compared with Japanese calculations based on the 300-MW(electric) Gas Turbine High-Temperature Reactor (GTHTR) that was developed by the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute. After benchmarking our models, parametric investigations were performed to see the effect of important parameters on the cycle efficiency. We also investigated single-shaft versus multiple-shaft arrangements for the turbomachinery. The results from this study are applicable to other reactor concepts such as fast gas-cooled reactors, supercritical water reactors, and others.The ultimate goal of this study is to use other fluids such as supercritical carbon dioxide for the HTGR power conversion loop in order to improve the cycle efficiency over that of the helium Brayton cycle. This study is in progress, and the results will be published in a subsequent paper.
