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Reactor Physics
The division's objectives are to promote the advancement of knowledge and understanding of the fundamental physical phenomena characterizing nuclear reactors and other nuclear systems. The division encourages research and disseminates information through meetings and publications. Areas of technical interest include nuclear data, particle interactions and transport, reactor and nuclear systems analysis, methods, design, validation and operating experience and standards. The Wigner Award heads the awards program.
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2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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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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Latest News
Excelsior University student section awarded community education grant
The American Nuclear Society Student Section at Excelsior University in Albany, N.Y., was awarded a $5,000 grant from the ANS Student Section Strategic Fund initiative for its program, Empowering Tomorrow’s Nuclear Innovators: A Collaborative Approach to Nuclear Technology Education and Awareness.
N. Chikhi, P. Fouquart, J. Delacroix, P. Piluso
Nuclear Technology | Volume 205 | Number 1 | January-February 2019 | Pages 200-212
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2018.1486160
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In-vessel retention (IVR) is an attractive strategy to mitigate a severe accident. However, because of low margins, it remains questionable for reactors of power of 1000 MW(electric) and higher. The success of the IVR strategy mainly depends on the mechanical behavior of the vessel after being ablated and on the inner thermal load, i.e., the heat flux transferred by the molten pool to the vessel, which has to remain lower than the critical heat flux. In some configurations, the stratification of the molten pool may lead to heat flux concentration in the thermal conductive metallic layer. An understanding of the metal layer behavior is fundamental in order to estimate the inner thermal load and requires knowing the liquid-metal physical properties, such as density and surface tension. In the present paper, original data of vessel thermophysical properties are proposed for the first time. Measurements of Type 304L stainless steel and 16MND5 ferritic steel density and surface tension have been made using the sessile drop method. Samples have been melted to form a drop on a yttria-stabilized zirconia substrate and heated up to 200°C above the melting point. Low Bond Axisymmetric Drop Shape Analysis has been used to estimate the sample density and surface tension and to propose correlations for the density and surface tension as a function of temperature. The influence of steel properties on metal layer cooling has been discussed. Especially, the sign of the metal temperature surface tension coefficient was found to be most likely positive. In this case, the Bénard-Marangoni flow is opposite to the Rayleigh-Bénard convection flow.