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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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Apr 2025
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Nuclear Science and Engineering
May 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
April 2025
Latest News
Waste Management 2025: Building a new era of nuclear
While attendance at the 2025 Waste Management Conference was noticeably down this year due to the ongoing federal retrenchment, the conference, held March 9-13 in Phoenix, Ariz., still drew a healthy and diverse crowd of people working on the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle, both domestically and internationally.
Alexandru Catalin Stafie, Jun Nishiyama, Toru Obara
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 199 | Number 2 | February 2025 | Pages 266-279
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2024.2347716
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The purpose of this study is to demonstrate a practical core design for a lead-cooled, nitride fueled, rotational fuel shuffling breed-and-burn (RFBB) fast reactor. The core design is based on the Westinghouse Lead Fast Reactor (WH-LFR) and uses natural uranium nitride fuel with a sodium bond encased in oxide dispersion-strengthened steel cladding. Simulations confirmed the potential of the reactor to maintain criticality at the equilibrium state, with a reactivity swing of less than 200 pcm at every cycle interval and an average discharge burnup of 235 MWd/kg heavy metals (HM) for a 1050 effective full-power day refueling interval. Power profiles were maintained stable at the equilibrium state, while the cladding of the discharged fuel incurred over 650 displacements per atom over its entire residency in the core.
From a nonproliferation perspective, the plutonium vector for the discharge fuel aligns with reactor-grade fuel standards, with over a 70% concentration of 239Pu and over 22% 240Pu, reducing the risk of weaponization. The adopted control rod system has been shown to offer sufficient negative reactivity of over 19 $ to bring the reactor into a subcritical state. Challenges such as the susceptibility of neutron balance to material thickness and neutron leakage have been addressed, emphasizing the necessity for meticulous design improvements. A steady-state thermohydraulic analysis confirmed the heat removal capacity from the hottest channel, ensuring operational safety. This study confirmed the feasibility of the RFBB strategy for a lead-cooled nitride-fueled fast reactor and sets a precedent for future research in enhancing fuel utilization and safety in nuclear reactors.
