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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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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
Hash Hashemian: Visionary leadership
As Dr. Hashem M. “Hash” Hashemian prepares to step into his term as President of the American Nuclear Society, he is clear that he wants to make the most of this unique moment.
A groundswell in public approval of nuclear is finding a home in growing governmental support that is backed by a tailwind of technological innovation. “Now is a good time to be in nuclear,” Hashemian said, as he explained the criticality of this moment and what he hoped to accomplish as president.
Brian Mays, Lewis Lommers, Stacy Yoder, Farshid Shahrokhi
Nuclear Technology | Volume 208 | Number 8 | August 2022 | Pages 1311-1323
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2021.1947664
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The inherent passive heat removal characteristics of modular High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactors (HTGRs) are well known. Modular HTGRs use a combination of coated-particle fuel, ceramic core materials, core geometry, and power level to maintain acceptable fuel temperatures for all credible operating and accident conditions. Heat from the reactor vessel is radiated to a passive reactor cavity cooling system (RCCS), which removes excess heat from the reactor cavity. The RCCS for Framatome’s Steam Cycle–High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (SC-HTGR) is a highly reliable, redundant system. Similar to most other modular HTGR concepts, RCCS failure is not considered credible for any accident scenario. Nonetheless, reactor module performance with a compromised RCCS is still of interest. Evaluation of such beyond-design-basis scenarios supports safety assessment of extremely low probability beyond-design-basis events (BDBEs) as well as the development of RCCS design requirements and plant emergency procedures. This study evaluates the performance of the SC-HTGR during a long-term depressurized loss of forced circulation event without RCCS operation. Boundary conditions are varied to determine their effect on reactor temperatures. Safety and investment risk considerations are addressed. The results of this study indicate that the safety impact is modest since fuel temperatures remain within their limits. However, the investment risk is more significant since vessel temperatures could significantly exceed design limits for these hypothetical BDBEs.