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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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April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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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.
A. Abdelghafar Galahom
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 193 | Number 6 | June 2019 | Pages 638-651
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2018.1560757
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This work presents a comparison between the homogeneous and heterogeneous [seed-blanket (SB)] fuel assembly used in the VVER-1200 core. The MCNPX 2.7 code with the ENDF/B-VII.0 data library was used to investigate the possible advantages that can be achieved when the SB assembly is used instead of homogeneous assembly. Thorium-232 was used as a fertile material in the blanket region and different fissile materials were investigated in the seed region. The neutronic characteristics of the presented designs were investigated by comparing four different combinations of fissile materials with (Th,U)O2 that were distributed uniformly through the whole assembly. The radial power distribution was investigated in both homogeneous and SB assemblies. The power distribution is flatter in the homogeneous assembly than the heterogeneous assembly. The suggested fuels in the SB assembly achieved a longer fuel cycle than the homogeneous assembly. Neutronic parameters related to reactor safety operation, such as control rod worth, Doppler reactivity coefficient, and effective delayed neutron fraction βeff have been investigated for the suggested fuel types. The SB assembly achieved a higher conversion ratio than the homogeneous assembly. Therefore, the fissile inventory ratio decreased more slowly with burnup in the case of SB than in the homogeneous assembly. Using 232Th instead of 238U reduced the production of the plutonium and the transuranic atoms.
