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Aerospace Nuclear Science & Technology
Organized to promote the advancement of knowledge in the use of nuclear science and technologies in the aerospace application. Specialized nuclear-based technologies and applications are needed to advance the state-of-the-art in aerospace design, engineering and operations to explore planetary bodies in our solar system and beyond, plus enhance the safety of air travel, especially high speed air travel. Areas of interest will include but are not limited to the creation of nuclear-based power and propulsion systems, multifunctional materials to protect humans and electronic components from atmospheric, space, and nuclear power system radiation, human factor strategies for the safety and reliable operation of nuclear power and propulsion plants by non-specialized personnel and more.
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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!
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Nuclear new build procurement considerations
It may seem counterintuitive, but the best time to enhance the ability to support operations and maintenance for a new plant is before construction starts. This is one of many lessons learned by the currently operating nuclear fleet. As construction and startup of many nuclear facilities was completed, it quickly became evident that the ability to efficiently support operations and maintenance was limited. Most of the information necessary to establish and manage procurement of spare and replacement items, maintenance, and configuration of the facilities was unavailable and had to be gathered on a case-by-case, “on-demand” basis. Absence of necessary information and the associated challenges resulted in the need for staff augmentation and multiyear-long projects to develop equipment bills of material and maintenance programs and to perform technical evaluations for the huge quantities of spare and replacement items being requested.
Hiral Kadakia, Andrew Baker, Mark Paulsen
Nuclear Technology | Volume 202 | Number 1 | April 2018 | Pages 71-80
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2017.1419785
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
RETRAN-3D is a versatile and reliable best-estimate five-equation thermal-hydraulic analysis code used for anticipated operational occurrences and for small-break loss-of-coolant accidents transient analysis of light water reactor systems. The RETRAN-3D accumulator model has been revised to predict behavior during short-intermediate and long-term transients in pressurized water reactors. The accumulator is a single-volume, two-region nonequilibrium component model that includes vessel geometry, wall metal mass, and wall and liquid region surface areas as a function of level. The model accounts for heat transfer effects from the vessel wall to the vapor region using a lumped parameter model and accounts for heat transfer from the liquid region to the gas region. Mass and energy balance equations are solved for the liquid region, and an energy equation is solved for the vapor region. A pressure equation of state provides the pressure as a function of the mass and energy of the liquid and vapor regions.
The new model is validated with loss-of-fluid test and semiscale experimental data, demonstrating that the model is capable of predicting the behavior of an accumulator for transients ranging from short term to long term and accounts for the effects of accumulator geometry such as surface area-to-volume ratio.