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Division Spotlight
Operations & Power
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.
Meeting Spotlight
International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering (M&C 2025)
April 27–30, 2025
Denver, CO|The Westin Denver Downtown
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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Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
TerraPower begins U.K. regulatory approval process
Seattle-based TerraPower signaled its interest this week in building its Natrium small modular reactor in the United Kingdom, the company announced.
TerraPower sent a letter to the U.K.’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, formally establishing its intention to enter the U.K. generic design assessment (GDA) process. This is TerraPower’s first step in deployment of its Natrium technology—a 345-MW sodium fast reactor coupled with a molten salt energy storage unit—on the international stage.
T. C. Geer, T. A. Parish
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 4 | Number 2 | September 1983 | Pages 161-166
Hybrids and Nonelectric Applications | doi.org/10.13182/FST83-A22861
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Fissile fuel producing blankets for both D-D and D-T fusion reactors are designed based on a slurry concept. In the designs, the blanket is composed of a slurry of ThO2 particles carried by heavy water. The slurry serves both to cool the reactor and to breed fissile fuel. Neutronic and photonic calculations showed that the slurry blankets achieved performance comparable to alternative concepts (moltensalts, fixed fertile material). For the slurry concept to be useful for a D-T reactor, a neutron multiplier needed to be used. The fast fission rate in the slurry blankets was small. Fission of the bred fissile material can be limited by removal of the ThO2 particles for processing after 5–10 days of irradiation.