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Division Spotlight
Nuclear Criticality Safety
NCSD provides communication among nuclear criticality safety professionals through the development of standards, the evolution of training methods and materials, the presentation of technical data and procedures, and the creation of specialty publications. In these ways, the division furthers the exchange of technical information on nuclear criticality safety with the ultimate goal of promoting the safe handling of fissionable materials outside reactors.
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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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.
R. W. Ostensen
Nuclear Technology | Volume 43 | Number 3 | May 1979 | Pages 301-313
Technical Paper | Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT79-A19219
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In a core disruptive accident in a liquid-metal fast breeder reactor, rearrangement of core materials may lead to a prompt critical excursion. Damage to the primary containment, especially the head seals and head bolts, caused by the subsequent core disassembly is a primary concern of hypothetical accident analysis. A systematic study has been performed to evaluate the sensitivity of that damage in a commercial size reactor to various uncertainties. The damage is very insensitive to the equation-of-state of the fuel but highly sensitive to the reactivity ramp rate through prompt critical. From the point of view of vessel damage calculations, these results indicate that there is little incentive to improve our equation-of-state data on unirradiated mixed-oxide fuel.