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Operations & Power
Members focus on the dissemination of knowledge and information in the area of power reactors with particular application to the production of electric power and process heat. The division sponsors meetings on the coverage of applied nuclear science and engineering as related to power plants, non-power reactors, and other nuclear facilities. It encourages and assists with the dissemination of knowledge pertinent to the safe and efficient operation of nuclear facilities through professional staff development, information exchange, and supporting the generation of viable solutions to current issues.
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ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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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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Colin Judge: Testing structural materials in Idaho’s newest hot cell facility
Idaho National Laboratory’s newest facility—the Sample Preparation Laboratory (SPL)—sits across the road from the Hot Fuel Examination Facility (HFEF), which started operating in 1975. SPL will host the first new hot cells at INL’s Materials and Fuels Complex (MFC) in 50 years, giving INL researchers and partners new flexibility to test the structural properties of irradiated materials fresh from the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) or from a partner’s facility.
Materials meant to withstand extreme conditions in fission or fusion power plants must be tested under similar conditions and pushed past their breaking points so performance and limitations can be understood and improved. Once irradiated, materials samples can be cut down to size in SPL and packaged for testing in other facilities at INL or other national laboratories, commercial labs, or universities. But they can also be subjected to extreme thermal or corrosive conditions and mechanical testing right in SPL, explains Colin Judge, who, as INL’s division director for nuclear materials performance, oversees SPL and other facilities at the MFC.
SPL won’t go “hot” until January 2026, but Judge spoke with NN staff writer Susan Gallier about its capabilities as his team was moving instruments into the new facility.
T. Höhne, E. Krepper, D. Lucas, G. Montoya
Nuclear Technology | Volume 205 | Number 1 | January-February 2019 | Pages 48-56
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2018.1495025
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The paper presents the extension of the GENeralized TwO Phase flow (GENTOP) model for phase transfer and discusses the submodels used. Boiling flow inside a wall heated vertical pipe is simulated by a multifield computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach. Subcooled water enters the pipe from the lower end and heats up first in the near-wall region leading to the generation of small bubbles. Farther along the pipe, larger and larger bubbles are generated by coalescence and evaporation. This leads to transitions of the two-phase-flow patterns from bubbly to churn-turbulent and annular flow. The CFD simulation is based on the recently developed GENTOP concept. It is a multifield model using the Euler-Euler approach. It allows the consideration of different local flow morphologies including transitions between them. Small steam bubbles are handled as dispersed phases while the interface of large gas structures is statistically resolved. The GENTOP submodels and the wall boiling model need a constant improvement and separate, intensive validation effort using CFD-grade experiments.