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Division Spotlight
Accelerator Applications
The division was organized to promote the advancement of knowledge of the use of particle accelerator technologies for nuclear and other applications. It focuses on production of neutrons and other particles, utilization of these particles for scientific or industrial purposes, such as the production or destruction of radionuclides significant to energy, medicine, defense or other endeavors, as well as imaging and diagnostics.
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
El Salvador: Looking to nuclear
In 2022, El Salvador’s leadership decided to expand its modest, mostly hydro- and geothermal-based electricity system, which is supported by expensive imported natural gas and diesel generation. They chose to use advanced nuclear reactors, preferably fueled by thorium-based fuels, to power their civilian efforts. The choice of thorium was made to inform the world that the reactor program was for civilian purposes only, and so they chose a fuel that was plentiful, easy to source and work with, and not a proliferation risk.
Abdelfatah Abdelmaksoud, Said Haggag, Magdy M. Zaky, Moussa Osman
Nuclear Technology | Volume 208 | Number 9 | September 2022 | Pages 1471-1483
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2022.2035644
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In the present study, an analysis of a hypothetical complete loss-of-coolant accident in a typical open-pool research reactor is conducted. The reactor core is assumed to be completely uncovered and exposed to the ambient air. The possibility of passively cooling the decay heat of the exposed reactor core by natural convection to air and thermal radiation until core reflooding is investigated. A three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics analysis is conducted for the uncovered core while cooled by air natural convection and thermal radiation. The reactor core is simulated as a porous zone with decay heat generation specified as a cosine-shape distribution. The reactor core decay heat acts as a driving force for the coolant flow from the cold leg to the hot leg. The thermal equilibrium porous media model is used to represent the energy equation inside the core region. This study is conducted for core uncover time (the time interval between reactor shutdown and the moment when the reactor core is drained of water) of 10E3, 10E4, 10E5, 10E6, 10E7, and 10E8 s. Contour plots of temperature, velocity, density, and pressure at different values of core uncover time are illustrated. It’s found that for core uncover times of 10E3, and 10E4 s, the maximum core temperature exceeds the cladding melting point. The core maximum temperature is well below the melting point for uncover times of 10E5, 10E6, 10E7, and 10E8 s.