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Nuclear Installations Safety
Devoted specifically to the safety of nuclear installations and the health and safety of the public, this division seeks a better understanding of the role of safety in the design, construction and operation of nuclear installation facilities. The division also promotes engineering and scientific technology advancement associated with the safety of such facilities.
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Utility Working Conference and Vendor Technology Expo (UWC 2024)
August 4–7, 2024
Marco Island, FL|JW Marriott Marco Island
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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
Vogtle-3 shuts down for valve issue
One of the new Vogtle units in Georgia was shut down unexpectedly on Monday last week for a valve issue that has since been investigated and repaired. According to multiple local news outlets, Georgia Power reported on July 17 that Unit 3 was back in service.
Southern Company spokesperson Jacob Hawkins confirmed that Vogtle-3 went off line at 9:25 p.m. local time on July 8 “due to lowering water levels in the steam generators caused by a valve issue on one of the three main feedwater pumps.”
Jinsong Liu, Ivars Neretnieks
Nuclear Technology | Volume 135 | Number 2 | August 2001 | Pages 154-161
Technical Paper | Radioactive Waste Management and Disposal | doi.org/10.13182/NT01-A3213
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
When released out of a canister, the radionuclides originally incorporated in the spent fuel can still deposit radiation energy (even more efficiently) into the pore water, cause water radiolysis, and produce oxidants in the buffering material. This phenomenon is termed secondary water radiolysis. The oxidants thus produced can possibly diffuse back to oxidize the spent fuel and to increase the oxidative dissolution rate of the fuel.The effect of the secondary water radiolysis has been identified and preliminarily addressed by a mass-balance model. To explore whether the effect is significant on spent-fuel dissolution, the upper-boundary limit of the effect has been set up by considering a scenario that is very unlikely to occur. Several extreme assumptions have been made: First, the canister fails completely 103 yr after deposition; second, the spent fuel is oxidized instantaneously; and third, the radionuclides considered are those that dominantly contribute to radiolysis between 103 to 105 yr. With these assumptions, the spent-fuel dissolution rate can be increased dramatically if 10% or more of the oxidants produced by the secondary water radiolysis diffuse back to oxidize the spent fuel. It thus indicates that the effect of the secondary water radiolysis could be significant with some extreme assumptions. With more realistic assumptions, the effect could possibly become minimal. The subject is worth further investigation.