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Division Spotlight
Radiation Protection & Shielding
The Radiation Protection and Shielding Division is developing and promoting radiation protection and shielding aspects of nuclear science and technology — including interaction of nuclear radiation with materials and biological systems, instruments and techniques for the measurement of nuclear radiation fields, and radiation shield design and evaluation.
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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Latest News
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?
Wayne R. Zeuch
Nuclear Technology | Volume 51 | Number 3 | December 1980 | Pages 476-488
Technical Paper | Mechanics Applications to Fast Breeder Reactor Safety / Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT80-A32583
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
There has been an emphasis, recently, on the calculation of potential hazards beyond the primary containment of liquid-metal fast breeder reactors. A number of analyses have been conducted in order to follow the progression of a highly energetic core disruptive accident from its inception to its consequences in secondary containment. The investigation is limited to the direct mechanical effects of the initial core disassembly phase. An effort has been made to develop an integrated treatment of the accident sequence by extending the capability of primary containment codes, when necessary, to treat as broad a range of accident phenomena as possible. Beginning with the initiation phase, the release of energy to reactor internals and primary containment boundary is discussed. Emphasis must be placed on highly energetic accidents if the intent is to generate such severe phenomena as missiles and sodium spillage. Characterization of energetic events is accomplished by deriving work potential as a function of reactivity insertion in the reactor core. This source term is used for the primary containment analysis. Energy partitioning for hypothetical core disruptive accidents within the primary containment provides information concerning the system integrity and the potential for consequences that go beyond the primary containment boundary. The behavior of the reactor cover deserves special attention. During the slug impact phase, forces transmitted to the head would be the source for potential missiles and can open leak paths for sodium spillage. Studies on missile generation and sodium spillage are currently being performed to estimate the potential effects on secondary containment. Scoping calculations of generic missiles, generated by sodium slug impact loadings, as well as the coupled motion of an unrestrained reactor plug during the impact transient have been completed. Modeling of penetrations in the reactor cover for sodium spillage has been accomplished and spillage due to sodium impact on the reactor cover has been investigated.
