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Division Spotlight
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.
Meeting Spotlight
ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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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Latest News
Norway’s Halden reactor takes first step toward decommissioning
The government of Norway has granted the transfer of the Halden research reactor from the Institute for Energy Technology (IFE) to the state agency Norwegian Nuclear Decommissioning (NND). The 25-MWt Halden boiling water reactor operated from 1958 to 2018 and was used in the research of nuclear fuel, reactor internals, plant procedures and monitoring, and human factors.
K. W. Wong, L. Bures, K. Mikityuk
Nuclear Technology | Volume 208 | Number 8 | August 2022 | Pages 1266-1278
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2021.1971025
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Helium gases are utilized to remove fission products from the molten salt fast reactor (MSFR) core during operation. Helium gases and other volatile fission products may be introduced into the intermediate heat exchanger channels. The effect of these gases on heat transfer is essential for the MSFR to operate properly, especially in laminar flow regimes. The computational fluid dynamics code PSI-BOIL was selected to examine this problem because of its interface tracking capability. A periodic square duct simulation created the flow regime, resulting in a sliding bubble regime. Following that, we examined the impact of heat transfer using an extended nonperiodic channel simulation with a succession of corner bubble arrays. Due to the combined effects of low thermal diffusivity and laminar flow characteristics, it is shown that the length of heat transfer augmentation may extend to at least five bubble diameters downstream of the bubble placement. Finally, we examined the impact of interphasic heat transfer between an inert gas and a liquid. The bulk of the heat transfer amplification effect was due to the motion of the bubbles rather than interphasic heat transfer.