ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Division Spotlight
Thermal Hydraulics
The division provides a forum for focused technical dialogue on thermal hydraulic technology in the nuclear industry. Specifically, this will include heat transfer and fluid mechanics involved in the utilization of nuclear energy. It is intended to attract the highest quality of theoretical and experimental work to ANS, including research on basic phenomena and application to nuclear system design.
Meeting Spotlight
2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Mar 2024
Jan 2024
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
April 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
February 2024
Latest News
Can hydrogen be the transportation fuel in an otherwise nuclear economy?
Let’s face it: The global economy should be powered primarily by nuclear power. And it probably will by the end of this century, with a still-significant assist from renewables and hydro. Once nuclear systems are dominant, the costs come down to where gas is now; and when carbon emissions are reduced to a small portion of their present state, it will become obvious that most other sources are only good in niche settings. I mean, why use small modular reactors to load-follow when they can just produce that power instead of buffering it?
Yang Hong Jung, Hee Moon Kim
Nuclear Technology | Volume 207 | Number 12 | December 2021 | Pages 1842-1850
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2020.1845057
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This study characterizes a failed discharged fuel rod with 53 000 MWd/tonne U from a nuclear power plant in Korea. Chalk River Unidentified Deposits (CRUD) and the oxide layer were observed using an electron probe micro-analyzer (EPMA, SX-50 R, CAMECA, France) with wavelength dispersive (X-ray) spectroscopy. A normally irradiated cladding specimen was analyzed for comparison with the failed fuel rod. The analysis revealed an oxide layer with a thickness of about 10 μm and double-stratified agglomerates of CRUD species shapes. In contrast, sound fuel rods irradiated under conditions similar to failed fuel showed clusters in which Fe, Ni, and Cr were distributed. The main elements constituting the CRUD material, notably Ni and Fe, were located in the same position. Moreover, the thickness of the oxidized layer of the failed fuel rod was found to be significantly different from the thickness of the sound fuel rod.
Consequently, EPMA techniques offer the possibility of identifying and analyzing the CRUD phases and segregations in spent pressurized water reactor fuel. Although phases and segregations are small in terms of the amount expected to be present in background radiation, they nevertheless present a significant analytical challenge.