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Conference Spotlight
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
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Latest News
DOE awards $2.7B for HALEU and LEU enrichment
Yesterday, the Department of Energy announced that three enrichment services companies have been awarded task orders worth $900 million each. Those task orders were given to American Centrifuge Operating (a Centrus Energy subsidiary) and General Matter, both of which will develop domestic HALEU enrichment capacity, along with Orano Federal Services, which will build domestic LEU enrichment capacity.
The DOE also announced that it has awarded Global Laser Enrichment an additional $28 million to continue advancing next generation enrichment technology.
R. W. Ostensen, W. F. Murphy, B. J. Wrona, L. W. Deitrich, J. C. Florek
Nuclear Technology | Volume 36 | Number 2 | December 1977 | Pages 200-214
Technical Paper | International Safeguard / Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT77-A31927
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In a transient-undercooling accident in a liquid-metal fast breeder reactor with a small sodium void coefficient, steel cladding melts prior to disruption of the oxide fuel pellets. If molten steel could wet the fuel and penetrate into the interior of the fuel pin through the surface cracks, steel vapor pressure could cause an early breakup and possibly a dispersal of the fuel. The wetting and capillary properties of molten steel in contact with solid oxide fuel have been examined. Based on available indirect in-pile and out-of-pile experimental results, the known surface properties of steel and UO2, the behavior of similar materials, and direct experiments on steel-UO2 wetting properties, it is concluded that in an accident situation, molten Type 316 stainless steel will not wet oxide fuel at temperatures below the point of disruption of the fuel. Steel intrusions in the fuel will have no significant impact on the accident sequence.
