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Division Spotlight
Fusion Energy
This division promotes the development and timely introduction of fusion energy as a sustainable energy source with favorable economic, environmental, and safety attributes. The division cooperates with other organizations on common issues of multidisciplinary fusion science and technology, conducts professional meetings, and disseminates technical information in support of these goals. Members focus on the assessment and resolution of critical developmental issues for practical fusion energy applications.
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.
M. Hadj-Nacer, T. Manzo, M. T. Ho, I. Graur, M. Greiner
Nuclear Technology | Volume 194 | Number 3 | June 2016 | Pages 387-399
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NT15-82
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A two-dimensional computational model of a loaded used nuclear fuel canister filled with dry helium gas was constructed to predict the cladding temperature during vacuum-drying conditions. The model includes distinct regions for the fuel pellets, cladding, and helium within each basket opening, and it calculates the conduction heat transfer within all solid components, heat generation within the fuel pellets, and conduction and surface-to-surface radiation across the gas-filled regions. First, steady-state simulations are performed to determine peak clad temperatures as a function of the fuel heat generation rate, assuming the canister is filled with atmospheric pressure helium. The allowable fuel heat generation rate, which brings the peak clad temperature to its limit, is evaluated. The discrete velocity method is then used to calculate slip-regime rarefied gas conduction across planar and cylindrical helium-filled gaps. These results are used to verify the Lin-Willis solid-gas interface thermal resistance model for a range of thermal accommodation coefficients α. The Lin-Willis model is then implemented at the solid-gas interfaces within the canister model. Finally, canister simulations with helium pressures of 100 and 400 Pa and α = 1, 0.4, and 0.2 are performed to determine how much hotter the fuel cladding is under vacuum-drying conditions compared to atmospheric pressure. For α = 0.4, the fuel heat generation rates that bring the clad temperature to its allowed limit for helium pressures of 400 and 100 Pa are reduced by 10% and 25%, respectively, compared to atmospheric pressure conditions. Transient simulations show that the cladding reaches its steady-state temperatures ~20 to 30 h after water is removed from the canister.