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Fuel Cycle & Waste Management
Devoted to all aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle including waste management, worldwide. Division specific areas of interest and involvement include uranium conversion and enrichment; fuel fabrication, management (in-core and ex-core) and recycle; transportation; safeguards; high-level, low-level and mixed waste management and disposal; public policy and program management; decontamination and decommissioning environmental restoration; and excess weapons materials disposition.
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Conference on Nuclear Training and Education: A Biennial International Forum (CONTE 2025)
February 3–6, 2025
Amelia Island, FL|Omni Amelia Island Resort
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2024: The Year in Nuclear—July through September
Another calendar year has passed. Before heading too far into 2025, let’s look back at what happened in 2024 in the nuclear community. In today's post, compiled from Nuclear News and Nuclear Newswire are what we feel are the top nuclear news stories from July through September 2024.
Stay tuned for the top stories from the rest of the past year.
Sidney Langer
Nuclear Technology | Volume 87 | Number 1 | August 1989 | Pages 294-297
Technical Paper | TMI-2: Materials Behavior / Nuclear Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT89-A27656
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The tacit assumption in early severe accident studies was that the melting of a reactor core would result in failure of the reactor pressure vessel and eventual failure of the containment building and release of fission products to the environment. This assumption was shown to be wrong by the Three Mile Island Unit 2 (TMI-2) accident in which 50% of the core melted, yet fission product release to the environment was insignificant (<5% of the noble gases). Termination of the accident and survival of the reactor vessel is attributed to the presence of water in the vessel. The quantity of water required to cool the molten core and reestablish stable core cooling is calculated. These calculations and the TMI-2 experience imply that future accident management strategies that emphasize restoration of the cooling water supply can terminate advanced severe accidents and avoid pressure vessel failure.