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
Mathematics & Computation
Division members promote the advancement of mathematical and computational methods for solving problems arising in all disciplines encompassed by the Society. They place particular emphasis on numerical techniques for efficient computer applications to aid in the dissemination, integration, and proper use of computer codes, including preparation of computational benchmark and development of standards for computing practices, and to encourage the development on new computer codes and broaden their use.
Meeting Spotlight
2024 ANS Winter Conference and Expo
November 17–21, 2024
Orlando, FL|Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld
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
Aug 2024
Jan 2024
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
October 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
August 2024
Latest News
New laws offer nuclear industry incentives for existing power plant uprates
This year, the U.S. nuclear industry received a much-needed economic boost that could help preserve operating nuclear power plants and incentivize upgrades that extend their lifespan and power output.
Signed into law in 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act offers production tax credits (PTCs) for existing nuclear power plants and either PTCs or investment tax credits (ITCs) for new carbon-free generation. These credits could make power uprates—increasing the maximum power level at which a commercial plant may operate—a much more appealing option for utilities.
Shisheng Wang, Andrei Rineiski, Liancheng Guo
Nuclear Technology | Volume 196 | Number 3 | December 2016 | Pages 588-597
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NT16-5
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The lumped heat transfer methodology is simple, and the solution is very fast, so the lumped parameter approach has been widely used in thermal-hydraulic analysis for fuel pin heat transfer in nuclear reactors. In the conventional lumped thermal analysis of fuel pin structure, each component (such as a pellet, gap, cladding, etc.) is characterized by a concentrated bulk temperature (or averaged temperature), and a bulk thermal resistance. In contrast to this conventional lumped thermal resistance model, in this paper another kind of lumped thermal resistance heat transfer model for fuel pin structure has been developed. In this model, each fuel pin component is still represented by a concentrated lumped mean temperature node, while the location of the mean temperature position of each component is no longer set on the geometrical midpoint center; rather, it is assigned exactly onto the analytical temperature profile. Two thermal resistance elements are assigned for each component in this new model; between each component surface and its associated lumped mean temperature node a thermal resistance is assigned. Heat conduction in the radial direction between the mean temperature nodes of different components is purposely defined to take place at the in-between surface nodes. With this new arrangement, the location of the mean temperature positions for each component can be determined analytically, and all the thermal resistances are redefined, accordingly. The advantage of the presented method is that the temperature profile in the whole pin at any radial position can be reconstructed after a quite easy lumped heat transfer calculation. This advanced methodology can be used in nuclear reactor simulation studies where the fastness of the solution is of concern. It is of great advantage, e.g., for the early prediction of the formation of an internal molten fuel cavity within a fuel pin using this temperature profile, before the lumped pellet average temperature reaches the fuel melting point. This lumped thermal resistance model can be readily used for the sodium-cooled fast reactor design, especially for the optimized design of the pin structure. It can be also extended to the restructured fuel pin through the way that each restructured zone is treated as an individual component, e.g., for taking into account temperature-dependent thermophysical properties.