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Division Spotlight
Thermal Hydraulics
The division provides a forum for focused technical dialogue on thermal hydraulic technology in the nuclear industry. Specifically, this will include heat transfer and fluid mechanics involved in the utilization of nuclear energy. It is intended to attract the highest quality of theoretical and experimental work to ANS, including research on basic phenomena and application to nuclear system design.
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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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.
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.