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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.
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ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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
Norway’s Halden reactor takes first step toward decommissioning
The government of Norway has granted the transfer of the Halden research reactor from the Institute for Energy Technology (IFE) to the state agency Norwegian Nuclear Decommissioning (NND). The 25-MWt Halden boiling water reactor operated from 1958 to 2018 and was used in the research of nuclear fuel, reactor internals, plant procedures and monitoring, and human factors.
Leo F. Epstein
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 10 | Number 3 | July 1961 | Pages 247-253
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE61-A25968
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The fast, potentially hazardous chemical reaction between a metal and water can occur in a nuclear reactor only above the melting point of the metal, Tm. There is a critical temperature θ > Tm, at which the process changes over from the slow corrosion-like reaction to one which proceeds with explosive speed and violence. For the alkali metals, θ is only slightly greater than Tm. The critical temperature θ has been experimentally determined for three high melting point metals, Al, Zr, and U; and it is shown that θ is approximately equal to the temperature at which the metal vapor pressure is 0.15 mm for these cases. This relation suggests that the initiation of the violent metal-water reaction for refractory metals may be a vapor phase phenomenon. On the basis of this hypothesis, and the empirical correlations developed, predictions of the value of θ are presented for a number of other metals for which experimental data are not presently available.