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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
Utility Working Conference and Vendor Technology Expo (UWC 2024)
August 4–7, 2024
Marco Island, FL|JW Marriott Marco Island
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Jun 2024
Jan 2024
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
August 2024
Nuclear Technology
July 2024
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
NRC engineers share their expertise at the University of Puerto Rico
Robert Roche-Rivera and Marcos Rolón-Acevedo are licensed professional engineers who work at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. They are also alumni of the University of Puerto Rico–Mayagüez (UPRM) and have been sharing their knowledge and experience with students at their alma mater since last year, serving as adjunct professors in the university’s Department of Mechanical Engineering. During the 2023–2024 school year, they each taught two courses: Fundamentals of Nuclear Science and Engineering, and Nuclear Power Plant Engineering.
M. Caramello, M. Frignani, R. Beaumont, M. Tarantino, C. Stansbury, P. Ferroni
Nuclear Technology | Volume 210 | Number 4 | April 2024 | Pages 579-590
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2023.2181043
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
There has recently been growing interest in the development of innovative nuclear technologies that offer greater sustainability and cost effectiveness of electricity production. One of the most promising options is the lead fast reactor (LFR) technology. Lead stands out for its favorable neutron properties, allowing a hard neutron spectrum core as well as good shielding, heat transfer, and radioisotope retention capabilities. As lead has a boiling point in excess of 1700°C and does not react exothermically with either air or water, it also allows for the design of a low-pressure reactor block without an intermediate cooling circuit, which is used in other advanced reactor technologies for protecting against the interaction between primary and power conversion system coolants. The deployment of a new fleet of fast reactors is conditional on the control/prevention of the corrosion and erosion effects of the coolant against the structural materials, the systematic characterization of the interaction phenomena between the coolant and fuel and water, and the experimental qualification of innovative systems and components.
To support LFR technology development, the UK Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy has recently allocated 10 M£ to a team composed of Westinghouse Electric Company LLC, the Ansaldo Nuclear Group, the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, the University of Manchester, and other organizations for the design, construction, and first operation of a network of eight test infrastructures widespread in the United Kingdom to address the LFR’s highest priority research and development needs.
One of the experimental rigs is the Versatile Loop Facility (VLF) currently under construction at the Ansaldo Nuclear Group’s workshop in Wolverhampton, United Kingdom. The plant consists of a lead loop operable up to 650°C and equipped with a 500-kW electric fuel bundle simulator (resembling the Westinghouse LFR bundle) and a hybrid microchannel-type diffusion-bonded heat exchanger (which simulates the primary heat exchanger adopted in the Westinghouse LFR design). The heat removal is delegated to a supercritical water-cooling loop having a design pressure of 330 bar and maximum operating temperatures up to 620°C. In this paper we present the design of the VLF with specific details about its prototypical components and an insight into the construction and installation phases currently underway.