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Decommissioning & Environmental Sciences
The mission of the Decommissioning and Environmental Sciences (DES) Division is to promote the development and use of those skills and technologies associated with the use of nuclear energy and the optimal management and stewardship of the environment, sustainable development, decommissioning, remediation, reutilization, and long-term surveillance and maintenance of nuclear-related installations, and sites. The target audience for this effort is the membership of the Division, the Society, and the public at large.
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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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?
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.