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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
International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering (M&C 2025)
April 27–30, 2025
Denver, CO|The Westin Denver Downtown
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
Argonne’s METL gears up to test more sodium fast reactor components
Argonne National Laboratory has successfully swapped out an aging cold trap in the sodium test loop called METL (Mechanisms Engineering Test Loop), the Department of Energy announced April 23. The upgrade is the first of its kind in the United States in more than 30 years, according to the DOE, and will help test components and operations for the sodium-cooled fast reactors being developed now.
T. H. Trumbull, D. R. Harris
Nuclear Technology | Volume 154 | Number 3 | June 2006 | Pages 350-360
Technical Paper | Radiation Protection | doi.org/10.13182/NT06-A3739
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The effect of material homogenization on the calculated gamma-ray dose rate was studied for several arrangements of typical pressurized water reactor (PWR) spent fuel pins in an air medium using the Monte Carlo code MCNP. The models analyzed increased in geometric complexity, beginning with a single fuel pin; progressing to small lattices, i.e., 3 × 3, 5 × 5, and 7 × 7 fuel pins; and culminating with a full 17 × 17 pin PWR bundle analysis. The fuel pin dimensions and compositions were taken directly from a previous study, and efforts were made to parallel this study by specifying identical flux-to-dose functions and gamma-ray source spectra.The analysis shows two competing components to the overall effect of material homogenization on the calculated dose rate. Homogenization of pin lattices tends to lower the effect of radiation channeling but increase the effect of source redistribution. Depending on the size of the lattice and the location of the detectors, the net effect of material homogenization on the dose rate can be insignificant, or it can range from a 6% decrease to a 35% increase relative to the detailed geometry model.