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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
Conference on Nuclear Training and Education: A Biennial International Forum (CONTE 2025)
February 3–6, 2025
Amelia Island, FL|Omni Amelia Island Resort
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
Senate committee hears from energy secretary nominee Chris Wright
Wright
Chris Wright, president-elect Trump’s pick to lead the U.S. Department of Energy, spent hours today fielding questions from members of the U.S. Senate’s committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
During the hearing, Wright—who’s spent most of his career in fossil fuels—made comments in support of nuclear energy and efforts to expand domestic generation in the near future. Asked what actions he would take as energy secretary to improve the development and deployment of SMRs, Wright said: “It’s a big challenge, and I’m new to government, so I can’t list off the five levers I can pull. But (I’ve been in discussions) about how to make it easier to research, to invest, to build things. The DOE has land at some of its facilities that can be helpful in this regard.”
T. F. Wimett
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 110 | Number 3 | March 1992 | Pages 209-236
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE90-149
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Large dynamic stresses are induced in the fuel components of fast-burst, or pulse, reactors because of rapid fission heating. These stresses increase more than linearly with burst energy yield and, at some yield, will cause fuel failure. Despite many attempts, no one has yet succeeded in predicting a fuel damage threshold with useful certainty in the reactor design stage, nor has the maximum fuel stress for a given power pulse in an operating reactor been calculated satisfactorily. Some analytic solutions for the burst dynamic behavior of typical fuel components that are consistent with available fuel displacement measurements are discussed. In particular, an analytic function is introduced for stress-vibration excitation of fuel components by the bell-shaped power pulse of a reactor burst. These solutions can be employed to determine fuel damage thresholds with useful certainty. Also, a new approach is presented for the analysis of prompt burst power transients by employing fuel displacement solutions to derive dynamic reactivity quench for use in power calculations.