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Division Spotlight
Fusion Energy
This division promotes the development and timely introduction of fusion energy as a sustainable energy source with favorable economic, environmental, and safety attributes. The division cooperates with other organizations on common issues of multidisciplinary fusion science and technology, conducts professional meetings, and disseminates technical information in support of these goals. Members focus on the assessment and resolution of critical developmental issues for practical fusion energy applications.
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
New company has big nuclear plans
The recent startup The Nuclear Company announced plans this month to deploy a series of nuclear reactors by the mid-2030s using a “design-once, build-many approach.”
The venture-capital-funded firm wants to use proven, licensed technology and target sites that already have some level of licensing approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build enough reactors to produce 6 gigawatts of electricity across the country.
W. R. Marcum, T. S. Palmer, B. G. Woods, S. T. Keller, S. R. Reese, M. R. Hartman
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 171 | Number 2 | June 2012 | Pages 150-164
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE11-25
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Oregon State TRIGA Reactor (OSTR) was converted from highly enriched uranium (HEU) Fuel Life Improvement Program (FLIP) fuel to low-enriched uranium (LEU) fuel in October 2008. This effort was driven by the U.S. Department of Energy's Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactor program. The new LEU fuel is 30/20 U-Zr1.6H (30% uranium in the fuel matrix, 19.75 wt% enriched) in contrast to the FLIP fuel having U-Zr1.6H (8.5% uranium in the fuel matrix, 70 wt% enriched). This new fuel composition provides the best match in performance of the available mixture ratios when compared to the previous FLIP fuel. To support conversion, a complete assessment and reevaluation of the OSTR Safety Analysis Report was performed. This evaluation included steady-state thermal-hydraulic and neutronics characterizations of the HEU and LEU cores as well as a transient behavior (pulse) analysis of both core types.This paper presents a summary of the methods used and results produced during the pulse analysis identifying power, temperature, and reactivity during pulsed operation for the FLIP and new LEU fuel. This analysis was performed using RELAP5-3D version 2.4.2 and point reactor kinetics simulation software; these two methods are found to agree very well. We discuss the differences between the two fuels and the impact of pulse behavior on the safety limits for the converted reactor.