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Division Spotlight
Decommissioning & Environmental Sciences
The mission of the Decommissioning and Environmental Sciences (DES) Division is to promote the development and use of those skills and technologies associated with the use of nuclear energy and the optimal management and stewardship of the environment, sustainable development, decommissioning, remediation, reutilization, and long-term surveillance and maintenance of nuclear-related installations, and sites. The target audience for this effort is the membership of the Division, the Society, and the public at large.
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!
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Latest News
Vogtle-3 shuts down for valve issue
One of the new Vogtle units in Georgia was shut down unexpectedly on Monday last week for a valve issue that has since been investigated and repaired. According to multiple local news outlets, Georgia Power reported on July 17 that Unit 3 was back in service.
Southern Company spokesperson Jacob Hawkins confirmed that Vogtle-3 went off line at 9:25 p.m. local time on July 8 “due to lowering water levels in the steam generators caused by a valve issue on one of the three main feedwater pumps.”
Luis E. Herranz, José I. Linares, Beatriz Y. Moratilla
Nuclear Technology | Volume 159 | Number 1 | July 2007 | Pages 15-24
Technical Paper | Fission Reactors | doi.org/10.13182/NT07-A3853
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Future world energy demand will require a sustainable energy generation system. Optimization of power cycles has become a key element to better exploit natural resources, to minimize waste production, and even to reduce fuel cycle cost. Aware of this, nuclear technology is developing what has been termed Generation IV designs. In particular, the high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) concept is a promising technology to reach much higher thermal efficiencies than present nuclear power plants.By using a classical thermodynamic methodology, this paper demonstrates that regenerative reheating would significantly enhance the thermal performance of a reference Brayton cycle based on pebble bed modular reactor (PBMR) technology. The regenerative reheating is conducted by a live gas fraction () extracted from the coolant inventory exiting the nuclear reactor. Optimization of results in efficiency values as high as 53 and 61%, respectively, under current and midterm technology scenarios. In addition, reheating would allow an effective and easy-to-conduct "load-follow" operation with no loss of thermal efficiency in the upper range of . Even further, under the midterm technology scenario, reheating would make it possible to cogenerate H2 from the enthalpy content of the fraction exiting reheater.