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Division Spotlight
Human Factors, Instrumentation & Controls
Improving task performance, system reliability, system and personnel safety, efficiency, and effectiveness are the division's main objectives. Its major areas of interest include task design, procedures, training, instrument and control layout and placement, stress control, anthropometrics, psychological input, and motivation.
Meeting Spotlight
Conference on Nuclear Training and Education: A Biennial International Forum (CONTE 2025)
February 3–6, 2025
Amelia Island, FL|Omni Amelia Island Resort
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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February 2025
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Latest News
Reboot: Nuclear needs a success . . . anywhere
The media have gleefully resurrected the language of a past nuclear renaissance. Beyond the hype and PR, many people in the nuclear community are taking a more measured view of conditions that could lead to new construction: data center demand, the proliferation of new reactor designs and start-ups, and the sudden ascendance of nuclear energy as the power source everyone wants—or wants to talk about.
Once built, large nuclear reactors can provide clean power for at least 80 years—outlasting 10 to 20 presidential administrations. Smaller reactors can provide heat and power outputs tailored to an end user’s needs. With all the new attention, are we any closer to getting past persistent supply chain and workforce issues and building these new plants? And what will the election of Donald Trump to a second term as president mean for nuclear?
As usual, there are more questions than answers, and most come down to money. Several developers are engaging with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission or have already applied for a license, certification, or permit. But designs without paying customers won’t get built. So where are the customers, and what will it take for them to commit?
Paul N. Haubenreich, J. R. Engel
Nuclear Technology | Volume 8 | Number 2 | February 1970 | Pages 118-136
Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT8-2-118
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The MSRE is an 8-MW(th) reactor in which molten fluoride salt at 1200°F circulates through a core of graphite bars. Its purpose was to demonstrate the practicality of the key features of molten-salt power reactors. Operation with 235U (33% enrichment) in the fuel salt began in June 1965, and by March 1968 nuclear operation amounted to 9000 equivalent full-power hours. The goal of demonstrating reliability had been attained—over the last 15 months of 235U operation the reactor had been critical 80% of the time. At the end of a 6-month run which climaxed this demonstration, the reactor was shut down and the 0.9 mole% uranium in the fuel was stripped very efficiently in an on-site fluorination facility. Uranium-233 was then added to the carrier salt, making the MSRE the world's first reactor to be fueled with this fissile material. Nuclear operation was resumed in October 1968, and over 2500 equivalent full-power hours have now been produced with 233U. The MSRE has shown that salt handling in an operating reactor is quite practical, the salt chemistry is well behaved, there is practically no corrosion, the nuclear characteristics are very close to predictions, and the system is dynamically stable. Containment of fission products has been excellent and maintenance of radioactive components has been accomplished without unreasonable delay and with very little radiation exposure. The successful operation of the MSRE is an achievement that should strengthen confidence in the practicality of the molten-salt reactor concept.