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Division Spotlight
Reactor Physics
The division's objectives are to promote the advancement of knowledge and understanding of the fundamental physical phenomena characterizing nuclear reactors and other nuclear systems. The division encourages research and disseminates information through meetings and publications. Areas of technical interest include nuclear data, particle interactions and transport, reactor and nuclear systems analysis, methods, design, validation and operating experience and standards. The Wigner Award heads the awards program.
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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May 2025
Latest News
Argonne’s METL gears up to test more sodium fast reactor components
Argonne National Laboratory has successfully swapped out an aging cold trap in the sodium test loop called METL (Mechanisms Engineering Test Loop), the Department of Energy announced April 23. The upgrade is the first of its kind in the United States in more than 30 years, according to the DOE, and will help test components and operations for the sodium-cooled fast reactors being developed now.
Emmanuelle Picard, Jean Noirot, Raymond L. Moss, Helmut Plitz, Karl Richter, Jacques Rouault
Nuclear Technology | Volume 129 | Number 1 | January 2000 | Pages 1-12
Technical Paper | Fission Reactors | doi.org/10.13182/NT00-2
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An experimental program focused not only on the study of high-plutonium-content mixed-oxide fuels but also on more advanced "Pu without U" fuel concepts has been launched in the framework of the Consommation Accrue de Plutonium dans les RApides (CAPRA) project. First results of the in-pile and out-of-pile behavior of high-plutonium-content fuels with uranium, such as (U55%,Pu45%)O2, and (U55%,Pu40%,Np5%)O2, and also without uranium, such as (Pu44%,Ce56%)O2, are now available. In particular, the Irradiation à FOrt Pu (IFOP) experiment in the SILOE reactor and the TRAnsmutation and Burning of ActiNides in Triox carrier (TRABANT1) experiments in the High Flux Reactor are presented and the results are analyzed: Up to a burnup of 1.5 at.%, destructive examinations of the IFOP pin have shown that the high-plutonium-content oxide fuel with a large central hole presents the usual global behavior (good pellet integrity, fuel microstructure). The TRABANT1 oxide fuel pin with a 40% Pu and 5% Np content demonstrates that a burnup of 9.5 at.% can be reached without failure by a high-plutonium-content fuel. However, the TRABANT1 pin 1 (oxide pin with 45% Pu), which had run under severe conditions, has failed at ~7 at.% burnup. Destructive examinations of these pins will give more evidence on the causes of the failure. The low-oxygen-to-metal fuel column of (Pu,Ce)O2-x melted, thus confirming the poor conductivity of this fuel.
