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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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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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ANS joins others in seeking to discuss SNF/HLW impasse
The American Nuclear Society joined seven other organizations to send a letter to Energy Secretary Christopher Wright on July 8, asking to meet with him to discuss “the restoration of a highly functioning program to meet DOE’s legal responsibility to manage and dispose of the nation’s commercial and legacy defense spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level radioactive waste (HLW).”
H. P. Planchon, G. H. Golden, J. I. Sackett, D. Mohr, L. K. Chang, E. E. Feldman, P. R. Betten
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 100 | Number 4 | December 1988 | Pages 549-557
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE100-549
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Two milestone tests were conducted in the Experimental Breeder Reactor II (EBR-II), demonstrating some of the inherent safety features of a liquid-metal reactor. The first test was a loss of flow without scram and the second was a loss of heat sink without scram. Both tests were initiated from 100% power, and in both tests the reactor was shut down passively-by natural processes, principally thermal expansion—without automatic scram, operator intervention, or the help of special incore devices. The temperature transients during the tests were mild, as predicted, and there was no damage to the core or reactor plant structures. The tests plus analysis demonstrated the feasibility of inherent passive shutdown for undercooling accidents and identified the more important features necessary for inherent shutdown and passive cooling. The results provide a technical basis for future experiments in EBR-II to investigate inherent safety for transient overpower accidents and to provide additional data for validation of computer codes used for design and safety analysis of inherently safe reactor plants.