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Division Spotlight
Materials Science & Technology
The objectives of MSTD are: promote the advancement of materials science in Nuclear Science Technology; support the multidisciplines which constitute it; encourage research by providing a forum for the presentation, exchange, and documentation of relevant information; promote the interaction and communication among its members; and recognize and reward its members for significant contributions to the field of materials science in nuclear technology.
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 Science and Engineering
June 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
May 2025
Latest News
Argonne’s METL gears up to test more sodium fast reactor components
Argonne National Laboratory has successfully swapped out an aging cold trap in the sodium test loop called METL (Mechanisms Engineering Test Loop), the Department of Energy announced April 23. The upgrade is the first of its kind in the United States in more than 30 years, according to the DOE, and will help test components and operations for the sodium-cooled fast reactors being developed now.
Paul Korinko, Richard Wyrwas, William Spencer, Brent Peters, Edward Stein, Dale Hitchcock
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 71 | Number 3 | April 2017 | Pages 403-409
Technical Note | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2017.1293415
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Tritium is highly reactive with many materials. It is adsorbed onto and absorbed through the surface of containment vessels subsequently modifying the contained gas composition by isotopic exchange and catalytic reactions with surface elements and adsorbed gas species. Savannah River Tritium Enterprise (SRTE) uses a proprietary surface treatment that is intended to render the surface inert. Unfortunately, this process has not proven to be sufficiently robust for containing tritium gas standards. SRTE has funded a project that will explore the effects of electropolishing and vacuum and oxidizing thermal treatments on surface passivation of stainless steel (SS). Herein, a statistically designed series of experiments will be discussed that will inform optimized parameters for acid composition, current density, and other electrochemical process variables for the passivation of SS. The surfaces were analyzed using Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS), Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Novel techniques to characterize the passive layers are also being developed. In future experiments, gas sample bottles will be loaded with protium and deuterium to determine the relative exchange characteristics of the treated vessels. Previous work has indicated that if little protium ingrowth occurs or few contaminant species form, e.g., methane or ammonia, and little hydrogen exchange occurs in a protium and deuterium gas mixture the treatment is suitable for maintaining the tritium stability. This statement is not intended to imply that tritium, deuterium, protium mixes will not exchange, only that these results are useful as a screening tool prior to tritium exposure.