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Conference Spotlight
2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
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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
IAEA again raises global nuclear power projections
Noting recent momentum behind nuclear power, the International Atomic Energy Agency has revised up its projections for the expansion of nuclear power, estimating that global nuclear operational capacity will more than double by 2050—reaching 2.6 times the 2024 level—with small modular reactors expected to play a pivotal role in this high-case scenario.
IAEA director general Rafael Mariano Grossi announced the new projections, contained in the annual report Energy, Electricity, and Nuclear Power Estimates for the Period up to 2050 at the 69th IAEA General Conference in Vienna.
In the report’s high-case scenario, nuclear electrical generating capacity is projected to increase to from 377 GW at the end of 2024 to 992 GW by 2050. In a low-case scenario, capacity rises 50 percent, compared with 2024, to 561 GW. SMRs are projected to account for 24 percent of the new capacity added in the high case and for 5 percent in the low case.
A. A. Bauer, L. M. Lowry
Nuclear Technology | Volume 41 | Number 3 | December 1978 | Pages 359-372
Technical Paper | Fuel | doi.org/10.13182/NT78-A32120
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Studies of the tensile properties of Zircaloy-4 spent fuel cladding and their change with both isothermal and transient annealing have been conducted. The cladding was obtained from spent fuel rods irradiated to a maximum fuel burnup of 30 MWd/kg in the Carolina Power and Light H.B. Robinson power reactor. The yield and ultimate strengths of the as-received material decreased linearly with temperature from room temperature to 427°C (800°F). Uniform elongation was unaffected by temperature over the same range, while total elongation increased sharply between 329 and 371°C (625 and 700°F). At 482°C (900°F), properties reflected annealing that occurred during the test. The tensile properties at 371°C (700°F) were found to be strain rate dependent. The strength properties increased with an increase in strain rate, while the total elongation decreased. Uniform elongation exhibited no effect of strain rate. Evidence of dislocation channeling was observed. When the spent fuel cladding was annealed, ra diation anneal hardening was noted during early stages in the annealing process. Annealing of irradiation-induced strengthening occurred rapidly at temperatures above 538°C (1000°F) under isothermal conditions and below 704°C (1300°F) under transient annealing conditions for heating rates of 28°C (50°F)/s or less. Ductility increases lagged the strength changes during annealing. A ductility minimum, as measured by total elongation, is not reflected in reduction-of-area measurements. The annealing behavior of cold-worked Zircaloy cladding was found to be significantly different from that of the irradiated material. Annealing was accompanied by a change in the isotropy of deformation as determined from tube wall and diameter measurements. The as-irradiated cladding exhibited essentially isotropic reductions, as opposed to the anisotropic reductions measured for both annealed cladding and unirradiated Zircaloy tubing.