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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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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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DOE issues new NEPA rule and procedures—and accelerates DOME reactor testing
Meeting a deadline set in President Trump’s May 23 executive order “Reforming Nuclear Reactor Testing at the Department of Energy,” the DOE on June 30 updated information on its National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) rulemaking and implementation procedures and published on its website an interim final rule that rescinds existing regulations alongside new implementing procedures.
Todd K. Campbell, Edgar Robert Gilbert, Cheryl Knox Thornhill, Bernard J. Wrona
Nuclear Technology | Volume 84 | Number 2 | February 1989 | Pages 182-195
Technical Paper | Fuel Cycle | doi.org/10.13182/NT89-A34186
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
To support dry storage technology, oxidation tests were conducted with light water reactor spent fuel. The initial rate of weight gain for spent fuel was up to 50 times greater than the initial rate for nonirradiated pellets. Spent fuel formed measurable U4O9+x particulates at weight gains significantly higher than those at which the nonirradiated pellets formed U3O8 powder. Initial test results on three types of pressurized water reactor (PWR) spent fuel indicated that fuel type had a significant influence on weight gain. Additional tests were performed at temperature levels from 135 to 230°C on fuel with burnups from 8 to 34 GWd/ tonne U irradiated in five different reactors. The tests were conducted in static air at controlled moisture levels in a 105 R/h gamma field. In the 230°C tests, weight gains for PWR and boiling water reactor (BWR) fuels exceeded 4 wt% after 4000 h of exposure. Powder formation time on BWR fuels increased with increasing burnup; weight gain magnitudes were independent of fuel burnup.
