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Division Spotlight
Fusion Energy
This division promotes the development and timely introduction of fusion energy as a sustainable energy source with favorable economic, environmental, and safety attributes. The division cooperates with other organizations on common issues of multidisciplinary fusion science and technology, conducts professional meetings, and disseminates technical information in support of these goals. Members focus on the assessment and resolution of critical developmental issues for practical fusion energy applications.
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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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.
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.