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Decommissioning & Environmental Sciences
The mission of the Decommissioning and Environmental Sciences (DES) Division is to promote the development and use of those skills and technologies associated with the use of nuclear energy and the optimal management and stewardship of the environment, sustainable development, decommissioning, remediation, reutilization, and long-term surveillance and maintenance of nuclear-related installations, and sites. The target audience for this effort is the membership of the Division, the Society, and the public at large.
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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
Oklo completes end-to-end demonstration of advanced fuel recycling
Oklo Inc. has announced that it has completed the first end-to-end demonstration of its advanced fuel recycling process as part of an ongoing $5 million project in collaboration with Argonne and Idaho National Laboratories. Oklo’s goal: scaling up its fuel recycling capabilities to deploy a commercial-scale recycling facility that would increase advanced reactor fuel supplies and enhance fuel cost effectiveness for its planned sodium fast reactors.
L. Romero, L. Moreno, I. Neretnieks
Nuclear Technology | Volume 112 | Number 1 | October 1995 | Pages 89-98
Technical Paper | Radioactive Waste Management | doi.org/10.13182/NT95-A15854
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Radionuclides leaking from a damaged canister spread into the backfill material surrounding the canister and then migrate through different pathways into water-bearing fractures in the rock surrounding the nuclear waste repository. If the backfill and other materials surrounding the canister have a low permeability, water flow is then excluded from these materials, and the solute transport is by diffusion only. Some nuclides are delayed by sorption on the materials through which they move, and those nuclides with short half-lives may decay to insignificant concentrations before they reach the flowing water in the fractures in the rock. This complex and variable transport geometry is modeled using a compartment model. The NUCTRAN compartment model is a useful tool to calculate the nonstationary transport of single nuclides or radionuclide chains. The model, which is a very coarsely discretized integrated finite difference model, is devised to be very fast and compact by embedding analytical solutions at sensitive points such as entrances and exits from small holes and fractures. The nuclide inventory in the source may be calculated using a solubility limit approach or a congruent dissolution approach. The model is flexible and can easily be adapted to various geometries. NUCTRAN agrees well with models using a very detailed discretization. Accuracy is gained if compartments with very large capacities are subdivided into a few compartments.