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Division Spotlight
Nuclear Installations Safety
Devoted specifically to the safety of nuclear installations and the health and safety of the public, this division seeks a better understanding of the role of safety in the design, construction and operation of nuclear installation facilities. The division also promotes engineering and scientific technology advancement associated with the safety of such facilities.
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
Four million nuclear jobs by 2050: Who will do them?
Industry leaders from around the globe met this month to discuss the talent development that will be necessary for the long-term success of the nuclear industry.
The International Conference on Nuclear Knowledge Management and Human Resources Development, hosted by the International Atomic Energy Agency, was held in Vienna earlier this month. Discussed there was the agency’s forecast for nuclear capacity to more than double—or hopefully triple—by 2050 and the requirement of more than four million professionals to support the industry.
Robert E. Einziger, Robert V. Strain
Nuclear Technology | Volume 75 | Number 1 | October 1986 | Pages 82-95
Technical Paper | Nuclear Fuel | doi.org/10.13182/NT86-A15979
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Oxidation tests on spent-fuel fragments and rod segments were conducted between 250 and 360°C to relate temperature and defect size to fuel oxidation rate and time-to-cladding-splitting. Defect sizes from an equivalent circular diameter of 8 µm (the approximate size of a stress-corrosion-cracking-type breach) to 760 µm were used. Samples, held at temperature in a flowing air atmosphere, were frequently weighed and visually observed to determine the oxidation rate and effects of oxidation. Both the size and shape of the defect appear to influence the time-to-cladding-splitting. Above 283 °C, time-to-cladding-splitting was longer for the sharp small defect than for the large circular defect, an effect that diminished as the temperature decreased. By 250°C the sharp small defects split open before the large circular defects, indicating that, at lower temperatures, the defect’s shape and not its size may be more important when determining time-to-cladding-splitting. At both 283 and 295°C, the defects in fuel rod segments with lower burnups propagated sooner than those in rod segments with higher burnup from the same parent rod. The cumulative damage fraction approach, using a reasonable decreasing time/temperature profile, was applied to determine time-to-cladding-splitting for pressurized water reactor (PWR) fuel with a burnup >640 MWh/kg of uranium. Breached PWR fuel rods will not split open from fuel oxidation during 100 yr of storage if the rod is not exposed to air until the temperature drops below 230°C. Lower burnup fuel apparently requires lower temperature limits. The temperature limits appear to depend more on the time/temperature profile in the storage container than on oxidation rates.