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Division Spotlight
Fusion Energy
This division promotes the development and timely introduction of fusion energy as a sustainable energy source with favorable economic, environmental, and safety attributes. The division cooperates with other organizations on common issues of multidisciplinary fusion science and technology, conducts professional meetings, and disseminates technical information in support of these goals. Members focus on the assessment and resolution of critical developmental issues for practical fusion energy applications.
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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Latest News
TerraPower begins U.K. regulatory approval process
Seattle-based TerraPower signaled its interest this week in building its Natrium small modular reactor in the United Kingdom, the company announced.
TerraPower sent a letter to the U.K.’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, formally establishing its intention to enter the U.K. generic design assessment (GDA) process. This is TerraPower’s first step in deployment of its Natrium technology—a 345-MW sodium fast reactor coupled with a molten salt energy storage unit—on the international stage.
D. Haas, J. Van de Velde, M. Gaube, J. Ketels, C. Van Loon
Nuclear Technology | Volume 34 | Number 1 | June 1977 | Pages 75-88
Technical Paper | Fuel | doi.org/10.13182/NT77-A31831
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An experiment sponsored by the Gesellschaft für Kernforschung at Karlsruhe, by Belgonucléaire, and by Interatom was carried out in the French reactor Rapsodie from February 1971 to September 1972, in the frame of a research and development program for the fast breeder prototype reactor SNR. This experiment consisted in the irradiation of two bundles, each containing 34 mixed-oxide pins, with spacer grids and tie-rods, up to a peak burnup of 10.6 at.% and a peak total neutron fluence of 8 × 10 20 mm −2, corresponding to a peak fast fluence (E > 0.111 MeV) of 6.4 × 1020 mm−2. The postirradiation examinations showed that the cold-worked WNr. 1.4970 cladding stainless steel has a lower irradiation-induced swelling than the solution-annealed WNr. 1.4988. Important inelastic deformations of both types of claddings have been observed; the largest part of these deformations can be explained by the in-pile creep. A mechanical interaction between the fuel and the cladding is not excluded in the case of the pins with the cladding steel WNr. 1.4970. The destructive examinations emphasized the influence of the pellets’ initial stoichiometry on the fission product migration, on the plutonium radial distribution, and on the fuel-cladding chemical interaction. An interaction between the fuel and the blanket pellets, due to the cesium migration and to the formation of cesium uranates, leading to local cladding strains, has been noted. These phenomena, as well as the chemical interaction between the fuel and the cladding, have been investigated by extensive microprobe analysis. Finally, the fuel restructuration has been analyzed and interpreted as a function of the fuel characteristics, irradiation conditions, and cladding deformations.
