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Education, Training & Workforce Development
The Education, Training & Workforce Development Division provides communication among the academic, industrial, and governmental communities through the exchange of views and information on matters related to education, training and workforce development in nuclear and radiological science, engineering, and technology. Industry leaders, education and training professionals, and interested students work together through Society-sponsored meetings and publications, to enrich their professional development, to educate the general public, and to advance nuclear and radiological science and engineering.
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ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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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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Latest News
First astatine-labeled compound shipped in the U.S.
The Department of Energy’s National Isotope Development Center (NIDC) on March 31 announced the successful long-distance shipment in the United States of a biologically active compound labeled with the medical radioisotope astatine-211 (At-211). Because previous shipments have included only the “bare” isotope, the NIDC has described the development as “unleashing medical innovation.”
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.