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Division Spotlight
Fuel Cycle & Waste Management
Devoted to all aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle including waste management, worldwide. Division specific areas of interest and involvement include uranium conversion and enrichment; fuel fabrication, management (in-core and ex-core) and recycle; transportation; safeguards; high-level, low-level and mixed waste management and disposal; public policy and program management; decontamination and decommissioning environmental restoration; and excess weapons materials disposition.
Meeting Spotlight
2024 ANS Winter Conference and Expo
November 17–21, 2024
Orlando, FL|Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld
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
New laws offer nuclear industry incentives for existing power plant uprates
This year, the U.S. nuclear industry received a much-needed economic boost that could help preserve operating nuclear power plants and incentivize upgrades that extend their lifespan and power output.
Signed into law in 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act offers production tax credits (PTCs) for existing nuclear power plants and either PTCs or investment tax credits (ITCs) for new carbon-free generation. These credits could make power uprates—increasing the maximum power level at which a commercial plant may operate—a much more appealing option for utilities.
Dwight W. Underhill
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 63 | Number 2 | June 1977 | Pages 133-142
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE77-A27016
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Measurements of the release of fission gases from spilled charcoal were made by means of a laboratory scale model developed for this study. It is shown that there is an appreciable retention of fission gases in charcoal and that the release rate can be determined from diffusion theory. For example, from a 1-ft-thick layer of spilled charcoal, it was found that 4.5% of the xenon and 21% of the krypton would be released after 6 h, and that 6.6 and 29%, respectively, would be released after 12 h. These results are in close agreement with the mathematical model developed for the analysis of these experiments. Similar release rates were found for spilled charcoal initially chilled to 0°F. These release rates are conservative because the effect of radioactive decay was neglected, and for this reason a theory was developed that includes the effect of radioactive decay within the spilled charcoal. The combined effects of a slow release rate and radiodecay will serve to mitigate the radiological consequences of a charcoal spill accident.