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Division Spotlight
Operations & Power
Members focus on the dissemination of knowledge and information in the area of power reactors with particular application to the production of electric power and process heat. The division sponsors meetings on the coverage of applied nuclear science and engineering as related to power plants, non-power reactors, and other nuclear facilities. It encourages and assists with the dissemination of knowledge pertinent to the safe and efficient operation of nuclear facilities through professional staff development, information exchange, and supporting the generation of viable solutions to current issues.
Meeting Spotlight
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
Norway’s Halden reactor takes first step toward decommissioning
The government of Norway has granted the transfer of the Halden research reactor from the Institute for Energy Technology (IFE) to the state agency Norwegian Nuclear Decommissioning (NND). The 25-MWt Halden boiling water reactor operated from 1958 to 2018 and was used in the research of nuclear fuel, reactor internals, plant procedures and monitoring, and human factors.
Walter F. Sommer, Stuart A. Maloy, McIntyre R. Louthan, Gordon J. Willcutt, Phillip D. Ferguson, Michael R. James
Nuclear Technology | Volume 151 | Number 3 | September 2005 | Pages 303-313
Technical Paper | Accelerators | doi.org/10.13182/NT05-A3653
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Tungsten rods, slip-clad with Type 304L stainless steel, performed successfully as a spallation neutron source target operating to a peak fluence of ~4 × 1021 p/cm2. The target was used as a neutron source during the Accelerator Production of Tritium (APT) materials irradiation program at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center. Tungsten rods of 2.642-mm diameter were slip-fit in Type 304L stainless steel tubes that had an inner diameter of 2.667 mm. The radial gap was filled with helium at atmospheric pressure and room temperature. Los Alamos High Energy Transport (LAHET) calculations suggest a time-averaged peak power deposition in the W of 2.25 kW/cm3. Thermal-hydraulic calculations indicate that the peak centerline W temperature reached 271°C. The LAHET calculations were also used to predict neutron and proton fluxes and spectra for the complex geometry used in the irradiation program. Activation foil sets distributed throughout the experiment were used to determine target neutronics performance as a comparison to the LAHET calculations. Examination of the irradiated target assemblies revealed no significant surface degradation or corrosion on either the Type 304L or the W surfaces. However, it was clear that the irradiation changed material properties because post-proton-irradiation measurements on Type 304L test samples from the APT program demonstrated increases in the yield strength and decreases in the ductility and fracture toughness with increasing dose, and the wrought W rod samples became brittle. Fortunately, the slip-clad target design subjects the materials to very low stress.
