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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?
K. Natesan, O. K. Chopra, T. F. Kassner
Nuclear Technology | Volume 28 | Number 3 | March 1976 | Pages 441-451
Technical Paper | Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT76-A31525
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Kinetics of decarburization of Fe—2¼ wt% Cr— 1 wt% Mo steel in a sodium environment has been studied at temperatures between 480 and 650°C in the normalized and normalized-tempered conditions. Carbon concentration-distance profiles were obtained as a function of sodium exposure time and decarburization rate constants were evaluated. It was found that the heat treatment of the steel had no effect on the decarburization behavior at 650ºC; however, at lower temperatures, the normalized steel was found to decarburize significantly faster than the steel in the normalized-tempered condition. Microstructural examinations of specimens exposed at 650°C revealed that MeC was the stable carbide, and the transformation of M23C6 to M6C was accelerated by the decarburization process. In specimens exposed at 480°C, the stable carbides were found to be M7C3, Fe3C, and M2C. The results also showed that the steel would decarburize to a certain carbon level that corresponds to a stable carbide structure at each temperature, and any additional decarburization will be controlled by the dissolution rate of the carbide phases in the ferrite matrix.
