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Division Spotlight
Fuel Cycle & Waste Management
Devoted to all aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle including waste management, worldwide. Division specific areas of interest and involvement include uranium conversion and enrichment; fuel fabrication, management (in-core and ex-core) and recycle; transportation; safeguards; high-level, low-level and mixed waste management and disposal; public policy and program management; decontamination and decommissioning environmental restoration; and excess weapons materials disposition.
Meeting Spotlight
2024 ANS Winter Conference and Expo
November 17–21, 2024
Orlando, FL|Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld
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
Fire reported at Zaporizhzhia as Ukrainian troops advance toward Russia’s Kursk plant
Thick, black smoke pouring from one of the cooling towers at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant over the weekend raised alarm about safety at the facility as the military conflict with Russia continues.
On-site staff from the International Atomic Energy Agency witnessed the smoke and reported hearing multiple explosions at Zaporizhzhia, which is the largest nuclear plant in Europe and one of the largest worldwide.
S. Rajendran Pillai, R. Ranganathan, Cherian K. Mathews
Nuclear Technology | Volume 92 | Number 2 | November 1990 | Pages 243-247
Technical Paper | Material | doi.org/10.13182/NT90-A34475
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Carburization is one of the causes of the degradation of the mechanical properties of structural components in a liquid-metal fast breeder reactor. Sodium carbonate is a carbon-bearing impurity species that can decompose in the sodium coolant of the reactor loops and give rise to highly carburizing conditions. While there are conflicting reports about the temperature of the onset of decomposition of sodium carbonate in liquid sodium, there is general agreement about its instability at elevated temperatures. Two methods have been used to monitor the onset and kinetics of decomposition of sodium carbonate in liquid sodium. In the first method, carbon generated by the decomposition of sodium carbonate reacts with hydrogen (dissolved in sodium) to form methane, and the temperature at which the pressure of methane abruptly increases is determined. In the second method, the increase of carbon activity of sodium, resulting from decomposition of the sodium carbonate, is monitored by an electrochemical carbon meter. In both cases, mutually complementary results are obtained with regard to the temperature of decomposition; however, a significant difference in the kinetics of decomposition is observed, the rate being very high in the presence of hydrogen.