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.
Division Spotlight
Isotopes & Radiation
Members are devoted to applying nuclear science and engineering technologies involving isotopes, radiation applications, and associated equipment in scientific research, development, and industrial processes. Their interests lie primarily in education, industrial uses, biology, medicine, and health physics. Division committees include Analytical Applications of Isotopes and Radiation, Biology and Medicine, Radiation Applications, Radiation Sources and Detection, and Thermal Power Sources.
Meeting Spotlight
Utility Working Conference and Vendor Technology Expo (UWC 2024)
August 4–7, 2024
Marco Island, FL|JW Marriott Marco Island
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 2024
Jan 2024
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
August 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
ARPA-E announces $40 million to develop transmutation technologies for UNF
The Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E) announced $40 million in funding to develop cutting-edge technologies to enable the transmutation of used nuclear fuel into less-radioactive substances. According to ARPA-E, the new initiative addresses one of the agency’s core goals as outlined by Congress: to provide transformative solutions to improve the management, cleanup, and disposal of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel.
A. Bousbia Salah, J. Vlassenbroeck, H. Austregesilo
Nuclear Technology | Volume 192 | Number 1 | October 2015 | Pages 1-10
Technical Paper | Fission Reactors | doi.org/10.13182/NT14-51
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Following an accidental event in a nuclear pressurized water reactor, involving the loss of primary-side forced coolant flow, the core decay heat is generally removed through a natural circulation convection process. The cooldown of the reactor coolant system is carried out through the secondary-side heat sink following prescribed guidelines. However, under asymmetric primary-side cooling conditions, natural circulation interruption (NCI) in the loops with an inactive steam generator may take place. Under such conditions, the cooldown of the primary side may be hindered and the transient may evolve toward a degraded state. The NCI issue was recently addressed within the thermal-hydraulic experimental projects ROSA-2 and PKL-2 of the Nuclear Energy Agency of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The objective was to identify the conditions that may lead to the occurrence of NCI, to develop cooldown procedures that prevent the occurrence of NCI, and to assess the thermal-hydraulic code capabilities in predicting this phenomenon. In the current study, NCI experimental tests carried out in the LSTF (Large Scale Test Facility) and PKL (Primaer-KreisLauf) facilities are assessed using the best-estimate thermal-hydraulic system codes CATHARE and ATHLET. The simulation results are presented and conclusions are derived accordingly.