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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.
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ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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Colin Judge: Testing structural materials in Idaho’s newest hot cell facility
Idaho National Laboratory’s newest facility—the Sample Preparation Laboratory (SPL)—sits across the road from the Hot Fuel Examination Facility (HFEF), which started operating in 1975. SPL will host the first new hot cells at INL’s Materials and Fuels Complex (MFC) in 50 years, giving INL researchers and partners new flexibility to test the structural properties of irradiated materials fresh from the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) or from a partner’s facility.
Materials meant to withstand extreme conditions in fission or fusion power plants must be tested under similar conditions and pushed past their breaking points so performance and limitations can be understood and improved. Once irradiated, materials samples can be cut down to size in SPL and packaged for testing in other facilities at INL or other national laboratories, commercial labs, or universities. But they can also be subjected to extreme thermal or corrosive conditions and mechanical testing right in SPL, explains Colin Judge, who, as INL’s division director for nuclear materials performance, oversees SPL and other facilities at the MFC.
SPL won’t go “hot” until January 2026, but Judge spoke with NN staff writer Susan Gallier about its capabilities as his team was moving instruments into the new facility.
Weikai Gao, Xiaowei Li, Xinxin Wu, Jiaqing Zhao, Yiyang Zhang, Xiaowei Luo (Tsinghua Univ)
Proceedings | 2018 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants (ICAPP 2018) | Charlotte, NC, April 8-11, 2018 | Pages 1193-1198
High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor usually adopts helical tube bundles for its heat transfer equipment (steam generator or intermediate heat exchanger). The geometrical arrangement of helical tube bundles determines its thermal hydraulic performances. The flow attack angles between the tube axes of helical tubes and the fluid flow directions are smaller than 90 degrees, which is introduced by the inclination of the helical tubes due to upward winding. Except for the parameters of tube diameter, helical diameter, longitudinal pitches, transverse pitches and inclination angles, the inclination direction (or winding direction) of neighboring layers of helical tubes also influences the thermal hydraulic performances. The opposite sense inclination effect is numerically investigated. A three dimensional model having 5 layers of straight tubes with opposite sense inclination of neighboring layers is established. Standard k-? model was used for the turbulence modeling. The velocity and temperature field were investigated. Special attention is paid on the opposite sense inclination effect on pressure drop and heat transfer coefficient. The results show that the opposite sense inclination will lower the heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop coefficient, which coincides with the measured results.