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Division Spotlight
Accelerator Applications
The division was organized to promote the advancement of knowledge of the use of particle accelerator technologies for nuclear and other applications. It focuses on production of neutrons and other particles, utilization of these particles for scientific or industrial purposes, such as the production or destruction of radionuclides significant to energy, medicine, defense or other endeavors, as well as imaging and diagnostics.
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.
T. J. J. Whitehorne, C. Muirhead, S. N. Thomson, H. Li, R. Carson, H. Boniface, S. Suppiah
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 77 | Number 1 | January 2021 | Pages 26-32
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2020.1842681
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Electrolysis cells are required to drive the combined electrolysis and catalytic exchange process used in heavy water upgrading and water detritiation.
Past projects have used very robust alkaline electrolyte technology for the electrolysis cells, though recently there has been a move toward proton exchange membrane (PEM) technology. In PEM electrolysis a solid polymer electrolyte (SPE) acts as the proton conductor, separator of product gases, and insulator between electrodes.
The long-term effects of highly tritiated water on these SPE materials are not fully understood. At Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL), an exposure study has been undertaken wherein various commercial and proprietary SPE materials were exposed to very highly tritiated water (~1000 Ci/kg, 37 TBq/kg). Exposures were done at a typical cell operating temperature (60°C) for periods that might be expected for commercial operations.
Following exposure, some samples lost sufficient integrity that they could not undergo post-exposure testing. In order to test the remaining materials’ electrolytic performance and physical properties in a nonactive laboratory, a process of decontamination that would result in no further membrane degradation needed to be developed. The successful reduction in tritium content of the samples following decontamination was verified using chemical digestion and combustion analysis. All types of commercial membranes were found to lose significant ion exchange capacity, to show reduced water absorption, and to show reduced strain before failure. Tensile testing showed almost complete degradation even at low doses. In this paper, commercial membrane data are compared with data from CNL’s tritium-compatible membranes.