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Division Spotlight
Education, Training & Workforce Development
The Education, Training & Workforce Development Division provides communication among the academic, industrial, and governmental communities through the exchange of views and information on matters related to education, training and workforce development in nuclear and radiological science, engineering, and technology. Industry leaders, education and training professionals, and interested students work together through Society-sponsored meetings and publications, to enrich their professional development, to educate the general public, and to advance nuclear and radiological science and engineering.
Meeting Spotlight
Utility Working Conference and Vendor Technology Expo (UWC 2024)
August 4–7, 2024
Marco Island, FL|JW Marriott Marco Island
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
NRC engineers share their expertise at the University of Puerto Rico
Robert Roche-Rivera and Marcos Rolón-Acevedo are licensed professional engineers who work at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. They are also alumni of the University of Puerto Rico–Mayagüez (UPRM) and have been sharing their knowledge and experience with students at their alma mater since last year, serving as adjunct professors in the university’s Department of Mechanical Engineering. During the 2023–2024 school year, they each taught two courses: Fundamentals of Nuclear Science and Engineering, and Nuclear Power Plant Engineering.
Michail Athanasakis-Kaklamanakis, Dario Manara, Luka Vlahovic, Davide Robba, Konstantinos Boboridis, Markus Ernstberger, Rachel Eloirdi, Pedro Amador, Rudy J. M. Konings
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 197 | Number 3 | March 2023 | Pages 381-397
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2022.2108643
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In this work, laser heating is used to experimentally investigate the high-temperature behavior of the U-Fe-Zr-O system using arc-melted samples with various nominal compositions. Three-phase transitions are observed in the vicinity of ~1100, ~1700, and ~2200 K. Principal component analysis of the phase transition temperatures in the course of laser-heating thermal cycling indicates that the phase transition around ~1100 K is driven by the interaction of stainless steel (SS) with metallic U, the phase transition around ~1700 K by the melting of stainless steel, and the phase transition above ~2000 K by the eutectic melting of UO2. The results also reveal two hitherto overlooked interactions in the U-Fe-Zr-O system, which could have severe consequences for the containment of corium inside the reactor pressure vessel (RPV). First, the phase transition temperatures of the samples varied extensively as a result of the laser-driven rapid thermal cycling. Variations of up to 390 K were observed in the phase transition temperatures, suggesting that depending on the initial conditions of corium formation, the corium-driven ablation of the RPV wall could commence significantly earlier than the current state-of-the-art severe accident codes would predict. Additionally, evidence of a large exothermic reaction between zirconium and molten steel was observed upon SS melting. Such phenomenon may also be driven by material segregation during fast heating and cooling. If such a mechanism is activated during a severe nuclear accident, it can have an important impact on the overall thermal balance of the RPV.