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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.
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Utility Working Conference and Vendor Technology Expo (UWC 2024)
August 4–7, 2024
Marco Island, FL|JW Marriott Marco Island
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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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BWXT will scout potential TRISO fuel production sites in Wyoming
BWX Technologies Inc. announced today that its Advanced Technologies subsidiary has signed a cooperation agreement with the state of Wyoming to evaluate locations and requirements for siting a potential new TRISO nuclear fuel fabrication facility in the state.
T. R. Bump
Nuclear Technology | Volume 9 | Number 3 | September 1970 | Pages 301-308
Fuel Element Performance Model | Symposium on Theoretical Models for Predicting In-Reactor Performance of Fuel and Cladding Material | doi.org/10.13182/NT70-A28784
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The SWELL fuel element lifetime code employs the “cumulative damage” approach to estimate when the cladding of an LMFBR mixed-oxide fuel element is likely to fail under normal and off-normal conditions. In the estimating process, properties and behavior of irradiated, as well as of unirradiated, cladding are considered. A unique feature of SWELL is its use of an empirical function, developed by calibration with experimental data, which relates the pressure-exerted-on-cladding-by-fuel-swelling to the pressure-of-fission-gas-retained-in-fuel. SWELL predicts that the lifetimes of some typical fuel elements will have to be reduced significantly if the elements are to be expected to withstand rather modest off-normal conditions near end of life. However, there are reasons why the predictions may be overly pessimistic. Early results from the newer and more-detailed LIFE fuel element behavior code indicate that the accuracy with which a fuel element's operating history is followed may be important for gaining understanding of the element's behavior. To conserve computer time, the best way to simulate actual history, as jar as cladding ΔD/D predictions are concerned, appears to be to use time-averaged power (excluding downtime) for a length of time sufficient to produce the actual burnup, which happens to be the SWELL practice.