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Division Spotlight
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.
Meeting Spotlight
Conference on Nuclear Training and Education: A Biennial International Forum (CONTE 2025)
February 3–6, 2025
Amelia Island, FL|Omni Amelia Island Resort
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 Science and Engineering
January 2025
Nuclear Technology
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Latest News
Christmas Night
Twas the night before Christmas when all through the houseNo electrons were flowing through even my mouse.
All devices were plugged in by the chimney with careWith the hope that St. Nikola Tesla would share.
Hao-Ti Hsu, Ching-Han Chen, Chung-Kung Lo
Nuclear Technology | Volume 206 | Number 12 | December 2020 | Pages 1891-1908
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2020.1731404
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
As one of the lessons learned from the Fukushima Daiichi accident, long-term station blackout (SBO) and subsequent loss of ultimate heat sinks have prompted discussion on this topic in the nuclear industry. The SBO sequences for a Westinghouse three-loop pressurized water reactor (PWR) have been under investigation for a long period. To cope with the long-term SBO issue, many nuclear power plants have decided to replace the reactor coolant pump (RCP) seal by the new passive thermal shutdown seal (PSDS). The PSDS is a fail-safe protection device that will significantly reduce leakage from the RCP seal in case of loss of cooling. This makes a seal loss-of-coolant accident no longer a risk-significant event, and the relevant probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) models need to be modified to reflect the associated plant change. The PRA model of a Westinghouse PWR plant has been reviewed to reflect this more strongly; i.e. loss of component cooling water (CCW), loss of 4-kV vital alternating-current power, and loss of off-site power are revised for their sequences. According to the Westinghouse analysis, the PSDS temperature must be maintained below 104°C, and the operators have to control the RCP speed. In this paper, those factors are incorporated into the event tree structure revision of the loss of CCW event (TC) and loss of power either off-site (TP) or vital power A train (TAPB). In another case, LOOP initiating events need to consider the time span that the blackout conditions would affect the RCP seal integrity. Because the RCP will be tripped automatically, the limitation associated with RCP speed will not be applicable. Compared with the TC, TP, and TAPB event tree base cases, RCP speed slowdown or available time span is introduced into the PSDS model. The relevant part in the PRA model is subject to review and modification. The risk reduction associated with the PSDS is found to be significant.