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Division Spotlight
Human Factors, Instrumentation & Controls
Improving task performance, system reliability, system and personnel safety, efficiency, and effectiveness are the division's main objectives. Its major areas of interest include task design, procedures, training, instrument and control layout and placement, stress control, anthropometrics, psychological input, and motivation.
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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Nuclear Technology
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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. H. Berwald, J. J. Duderstadt
Nuclear Technology | Volume 42 | Number 1 | January 1979 | Pages 34-50
Technical Paper | Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT79-A32160
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A conceptual study of actinide waste partitioning and transmutation options has been performed. The goal was to identify an actinide burner system that could be expected to perform efficiently within the framework of a demonstrated controlled thermonuclear reactor technology. Reasonable extrapolations in technologies that could be expected to develop during the same time frame as the fusion driver itself are utilized. The laser fusion driven actinide waste burner (LDAB) system investigated uses partitioned fission power reactor generated actinide wastes dissolved in a molten tin alloy as feed material (or fuel). A novel fuel processing concept based on the high-temperature precipitation of “actinide-nitrides” from a liquid tin solution is proposed. This concept will allow for fission product removal to be performed entirely within the device at high burnup. No attempt has been made to optimize this system, but potential performance is impressive. The equilibrium LDAB design consumes 7.6 MT/yr of actinide waste. This corresponds to the waste output from 136 light water reactors [1000 MW(electric)]. The mean life of an actinide atom in the LDAB is only 4.5 yr, and actinides, once charged to the LDAB, might be reprocessed fewer times during irradiation than in previously proposed systems.