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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
International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering (M&C 2025)
April 27–30, 2025
Denver, CO|The Westin Denver Downtown
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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Nuclear Technology
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Latest News
TerraPower begins U.K. regulatory approval process
Seattle-based TerraPower signaled its interest this week in building its Natrium small modular reactor in the United Kingdom, the company announced.
TerraPower sent a letter to the U.K.’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, formally establishing its intention to enter the U.K. generic design assessment (GDA) process. This is TerraPower’s first step in deployment of its Natrium technology—a 345-MW sodium fast reactor coupled with a molten salt energy storage unit—on the international stage.
Gary S. Was, Lawrence M. Lidsky
Nuclear Technology | Volume 43 | Number 3 | May 1979 | Pages 289-300
Technical Paper | Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT79-A19218
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A purging process was developed that will permit operation of fusion reactor blankets employing solid LiAlO2 as the breeder material at fuel temperatures of <600°C. The low fuel temperature would greatly reduce the problems of fuel sintering, densification, and volume expansion that occur at fuel temperatures in excess of 900°C without degrading the plant thermal efficiency. The process consists of heating the blanket to a specified temperature for a given time at regular intervals to release tritium held up in the breeding material As an example, a detailed purging cycle was developed for the breeder rod shim rod blanket that uses LiAlO2 in the form of micron-size particles compacted into millimetre-size pellets and is designed for low-temperature operation. Tritium inventory, doubling time, purging time, purging temperature, purging frequency, and particle size are the parameters used to evaluate the process. Calculations indicate that breeder particle sizes ranging from 20 to 50 μm and purging temperatures ranging from 600 to 700°C can result in purge times of <1 h with three or more weeks between purges, and a doubling time of 7 yr for a blanket inventory limit of 5 kg and a breeding ratio of <1.02.