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Division Spotlight
Radiation Protection & Shielding
The Radiation Protection and Shielding Division is developing and promoting radiation protection and shielding aspects of nuclear science and technology — including interaction of nuclear radiation with materials and biological systems, instruments and techniques for the measurement of nuclear radiation fields, and radiation shield design and evaluation.
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
Katy Huff reflects on her time in the Office of Nuclear Energy
After three years in the Department of Energy, including two as assistant secretary of the Office of Nuclear Energy, Katy Huff stepped down in May to return to the world of academia as a professor at the University of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign.
Among her many accomplishments while serving as NE-1, Huff pushed for energy security—both at home and abroad, in places like war-torn Ukraine—and for the development of additional advanced and traditional nuclear plants, the potential restart of shuttered nuclear facilities, and a better funding stream for college nuclear programs.
Yoshihisa Ikusawa, Kyoichi Morimoto, Masato Kato, Kosuke Saito, Masayoshi Uno
Nuclear Technology | Volume 205 | Number 3 | March 2019 | Pages 474-485
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2018.1494999
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This study evaluated the effects of plutonium content and self-irradiation on the thermal conductivity of mixed oxide (MOX) fuel. Samples of UO2 fuel and various MOX fuels were tested. The MOX fuels had a range of plutonium contents, and some samples were stored for 20 years. The thermal conductivity of these samples was determined from thermal diffusivity measurements taken via laser flash analysis. Although the thermal conductivity decreased with increasing plutonium content, this effect was slight. The effect of self-irradiation was investigated using the stored samples. The reduction in thermal conductivity caused by self-irradiation depended on the plutonium content, its isotopic composition, and storage time. The reduction in thermal conductivity over 20 years’ storage can be predicted from the change of the lattice parameter. In addition, the decrease in thermal conductivity caused by self-irradiation was recovered with heat treatment—and was recovered almost completely at temperatures over 1200 K. From these evaluation results, we formulated an equation for thermal conductivity that is based on the classical phonon-transport model. This equation can predict the thermal conductivity of MOX fuel thermal conductivity by accounting for the influences of plutonium content and self-irradiation.