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The division's objectives are to promote the advancement of knowledge and understanding of the fundamental physical phenomena characterizing nuclear reactors and other nuclear systems. The division encourages research and disseminates information through meetings and publications. Areas of technical interest include nuclear data, particle interactions and transport, reactor and nuclear systems analysis, methods, design, validation and operating experience and standards. The Wigner Award heads the awards program.
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2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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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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Glass strategy: Hanford’s enhanced waste glass program
The mission of the Department of Energy’s Office of River Protection (ORP) is to complete the safe cleanup of waste resulting from decades of nuclear weapons development. One of the most technologically challenging responsibilities is the safe disposition of approximately 56 million gallons of radioactive waste historically stored in 177 tanks at the Hanford Site in Washington state.
ORP has a clear incentive to reduce the overall mission duration and cost. One pathway is to develop and deploy innovative technical solutions that can advance baseline flow sheets toward higher efficiency operations while reducing identified risks without compromising safety. Vitrification is the baseline process that will convert both high-level and low-level radioactive waste at Hanford into a stable glass waste form for long-term storage and disposal.
Although vitrification is a mature technology, there are key areas where technology can further reduce operational risks, advance baseline processes to maximize waste throughput, and provide the underpinning to enhance operational flexibility; all steps in reducing mission duration and cost.
M. Mirandou, S. Aricó, R. Sanabria, S. Balart, D. Podestá, J. Fabro
Nuclear Technology | Volume 199 | Number 1 | July 2017 | Pages 96-102
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2017.1323534
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Because of their good behavior under irradiation, fuel elements based on U3Si2 particles dispersed in an Al matrix have been used to convert to low-enriched uranium in a large number of research reactors. This behavior is extended to any compound grown by interdiffusion between silicide and Al during the fabrication process.
In this work, two plates fabricated with U3Si2 particles dispersed in an Al matrix were analyzed by optical and scanning electron microscopies, wave length dispersive microanalysis, and X-ray diffraction after the fabrication process. The results show that U(Al,Si)3 together with another phase with the same crystalline structure as U3Si2 but modified cell volume was formed.
A detailed analysis of fuel elements based on U3Si2 is considered very useful to be applied when going into greater depth in the frame of a U(Mo) qualification program.