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Division Spotlight
Robotics & Remote Systems
The Mission of the Robotics and Remote Systems Division is to promote the development and application of immersive simulation, robotics, and remote systems for hazardous environments for the purpose of reducing hazardous exposure to individuals, reducing environmental hazards and reducing the cost of performing work.
Meeting Spotlight
2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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
G7 pledges support for nuclear at Italy meeting
The Group of Seven (G7) recommitted its support for nuclear energy in the countries that opt to use it at a Ministerial Meeting on Climate in Italy last month.
In a statement following the April meeting, the group committed to support multilateral efforts to strengthen the resilience of nuclear supply chains, referencing the goal set by 25 countries during last year’s COP28 climate conference in Dubai to triple global nuclear generating capacity by 2050.
Tommaso Del Moro, Fabio Giannetti, Mariano Tarantino, Pierdomenico Lorusso, Marco Caramello, Damiano Vitale Di Maio, Marin Constantin
Nuclear Technology | Volume 210 | Number 4 | April 2024 | Pages 591-607
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2023.2183025
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Among the envisaged experimental infrastructures supporting Advanced Lead Fast Reactor European Demonstrator (ALFRED) reactor development, the FALCON [Fostering ALfred CONstruction] consortium identified the Advanced Thermo-Hydraulics Experiment for Nuclear Application (ATHENA) as one of the facilities to address the pool of thermal-hydraulic challenges and demonstrate the feasibility of the revised ALFRED configuration, along with the thermal-hydraulic performances of its main components. ATHENA is a large pool-type lead-cooled multipurpose experimental facility featuring a large-sized vessel (3.2-m diameter and 10-m height), conceived to host almost 800 tons of lead to test ALFRED-relevant scaled components. The test section to be installed in the main vessel includes an electrically heated core simulator, made of seven fuel assemblies, which delivers to the primary coolant a nominal thermal power of 2210 kW; a main coolant pump for lead circulation; and a countercurrent shell-and-tube main heat exchanger, of which the tube bundle is fed by pressurized water by a dedicated secondary circuit. This work presents the numerical model of ATHENA along with thermal-hydraulic characterization of the facility using the system code RELAP5/Mod3.3, properly modified to include the thermophysical properties of heavy liquid metals. After the characterization of the steady state representative of the Stage 3 foreseen for the ALFRED staged approach, results of a numerical sensitivity analysis aimed at defining the most suitable procedure for the shutdown transient of the facility are presented.