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Division Spotlight
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.
Meeting Spotlight
ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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
Norway’s Halden reactor takes first step toward decommissioning
The government of Norway has granted the transfer of the Halden research reactor from the Institute for Energy Technology (IFE) to the state agency Norwegian Nuclear Decommissioning (NND). The 25-MWt Halden boiling water reactor operated from 1958 to 2018 and was used in the research of nuclear fuel, reactor internals, plant procedures and monitoring, and human factors.
Thomas R. Boyle, Robert V. Tompson, Sudarshan K. Loyalka, Tushar K. Ghosh, Michael L. Reinig, Jr.
Nuclear Technology | Volume 183 | Number 2 | August 2013 | Pages 149-159
Technical Paper | Fission Reactors/Materials for Nuclear Systems | doi.org/10.13182/NT13-A18108
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Very high temperature reactors (VHTRs) and high temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGRs) can develop extreme temperatures in excess of 900°C that make them theoretically very efficient, potentially in the range of 45% to 50%. The high temperatures, however, can also lead to a corresponding increase in fission product transport out of the fuel, which is potentially a source term-related safety issue. The aim of this work was to develop a repeatable, accurate, and cost-effective process to measure the diffusion coefficients of fission products in graphitic VHTR materials, particularly those materials used in the fabrication of TRISO [tristructural isotropic] fuel pellets. Specifically, this work has focused on the diffusion of silver in graphite. We constructed graphite cells that could be filled with a silver diffusant in the form of silver flakes, silver powder, or a preloaded, silver-laden graphite powder. The cells were hermetically sealed and heated to temperatures comparable to those that will be found in VHTRs. After being kept at various amounts of time and temperature, these cells were imaged using microtomography and electron microscopy. Concentration profiles were measured by sectioning the heat-treated cells and analyzing them using neutron activation analysis. Estimated diffusion coefficients for silver in a commercial grade of graphite are reported, but the method is easily adapted to any grade of graphite material including nuclear grades and to a variety of other fission product species.