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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!
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Nuclear Science and Engineering
August 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Constellation seeks rezone for property adjacent to Illinois plant
While no development details have been released, Constellation is asking to rezone 658.8 acres of land it owns around the Byron nuclear plant in Illinois for possible long-term use.
Joseph J. Cambareri (NCSU), Jun Fang (ANL), Andre Gouws, Igor A. Bolotnov (NCSU)
Proceedings | 2018 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants (ICAPP 2018) | Charlotte, NC, April 8-11, 2018 | Pages 335-340
Understanding the dynamics behind bubbly flows is critical to the analysis of a pressurized water reactor (PWR) system, but there are still phenomena within bubbly flows that are not fully understood. Utilizing direct numerical simulations (DNS) coupled with interface tracking methods (ITM), high-fidelity numerical data can be extracted from bubbly flow simulations for use in the development of closure laws and mechanistic models. With the use of a bubble tracking algorithm that can record information specific to individual bubbles within the flow, numerical data can be gathered on a fundamental level. State-of-the-art high performance computing (HPC) facilities were used to simulate two-phase, turbulent flow within the subchannel of a PWR for both a simple subchannel geometry and one with a spacer grid and mixing vanes included. A statistical analysis of the numerical data gathered from these simulations can then be studied to discover the dependency of bubble dynamics upon flow conditions. Bubbles can be split into groups in relation to their distance to the wall, and the dependency of quantities such as the relative velocity or the drag coefficient upon the distance to the wall can be investigated. This work splits previously generated numerical data into seven bubble groups for further statistical analysis, as well as dividing the subchannel into “quadrants” to check for time averaged imbalances in bubble population resulting from geometric influences. These post processing techniques seek to offer insight into the physics behind bubbly flow conditions.