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Division Spotlight
Reactor Physics
The division's objectives are to promote the advancement of knowledge and understanding of the fundamental physical phenomena characterizing nuclear reactors and other nuclear systems. The division encourages research and disseminates information through meetings and publications. Areas of technical interest include nuclear data, particle interactions and transport, reactor and nuclear systems analysis, methods, design, validation and operating experience and standards. The Wigner Award heads the awards program.
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!
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Latest News
Vogtle-3 shuts down for valve issue
One of the new Vogtle units in Georgia was shut down unexpectedly on Monday last week for a valve issue that has since been investigated and repaired. According to multiple local news outlets, Georgia Power reported on July 17 that Unit 3 was back in service.
Southern Company spokesperson Jacob Hawkins confirmed that Vogtle-3 went off line at 9:25 p.m. local time on July 8 “due to lowering water levels in the steam generators caused by a valve issue on one of the three main feedwater pumps.”
Venkata V. R. Venigalla, Miles Greiner
Nuclear Technology | Volume 167 | Number 2 | August 2009 | Pages 313-324
Technical Paper | Thermal Hydraulics | doi.org/10.13182/NT09-A8966
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A two-dimensional finite volume mesh of a legal-weight truck cask cross section is constructed, including four pressurized water reactor fuel assemblies inside. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations calculate buoyancy-driven gas motion, natural convection and radiation heat transfer in geometrically accurate gas-filled fuel regions, and conduction within the solid components. Steady-state simulations are performed with the cask in a normal transportation environment for ranges of fuel heat generation rate and cladding emissivity, with atmospheric-pressure helium or nitrogen cover gases. The cask thermal dissipation capacity is defined as the fuel heat generation rate that brings the fuel cladding temperature to its allowed limit. That capacity is 23% higher when helium is the cover gas than for nitrogen. Increasing the cladding emissivity by 10% increases the capacity by 4% for nitrogen, but only 2% for helium. Stagnant-gas simulations using the geometrically accurate mesh predict essentially the same cask thermal dissipation capacity as simulations that include gas motion. This indicates that buoyancy-induced gas motion is not strong enough to significantly enhance heat transfer for this configuration. Simulations employing effective thermal conductivities and homogenized (nongeometrically accurate) meshes in the fuel regions predict cask thermal capacities that are 3 to 8% lower than the geometrically accurate CFD simulations. Basket surface temperatures calculated in this work will be used as boundary conditions in future benchmark experiments.