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Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
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Aerospace Nuclear Science & Technology
Organized to promote the advancement of knowledge in the use of nuclear science and technologies in the aerospace application. Specialized nuclear-based technologies and applications are needed to advance the state-of-the-art in aerospace design, engineering and operations to explore planetary bodies in our solar system and beyond, plus enhance the safety of air travel, especially high speed air travel. Areas of interest will include but are not limited to the creation of nuclear-based power and propulsion systems, multifunctional materials to protect humans and electronic components from atmospheric, space, and nuclear power system radiation, human factor strategies for the safety and reliable operation of nuclear power and propulsion plants by non-specialized personnel and more.
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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Latest News
Argonne’s METL gears up to test more sodium fast reactor components
Argonne National Laboratory has successfully swapped out an aging cold trap in the sodium test loop called METL (Mechanisms Engineering Test Loop), the Department of Energy announced April 23. The upgrade is the first of its kind in the United States in more than 30 years, according to the DOE, and will help test components and operations for the sodium-cooled fast reactors being developed now.
Eric P. Loewen, Kevan D. Weaver, Judith K. Hohorst
Nuclear Technology | Volume 137 | Number 2 | February 2002 | Pages 97-110
Technical Paper | Fuel Cycle and Management | doi.org/10.13182/NT02-A3260
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Recent investigations into the performance and economics of mixed thoria-urania fuel cycles demonstrate potential advantages at high burnup. Initial neutronic and fuel behavior calculations for several ThO2-UO2 mixtures being considered for use in commercial nuclear power plants are described.The Monte Carlo N-Particle -Origen2 Coupled Utility Program (MOCUP) was used to analyze the reactivity characteristics and isotopic concentrations of unit fuel pins/cells and lattice/assembly models as a function of burnup and reactivity. Neutronic results for a three-batch 6-yr cycle for each of three proposed ThO2-UO2 mixtures with the UO2 enriched to 19.5% 235U are presented. Neutronic results show that fuels fabricated from ThO2-UO2 mixtures can reach an average discharge burnup of up to 70 MWd/kgHM, which will increase the time between refueling and decrease the production of weapons-grade plutonium by a factor of 3 as compared to all-urania fuel.A version of FRAPCON-3, modified to handle pure thoria and ThO2-UO2 mixtures, was used for the fuel performance and behavior calculations. The new version called FRAPCON-3Th includes the updated material property models for thermal conductivity, specific heat capacity, emissivity, thermal expansion, modulus of elasticity, and melting temperature to predict fuel behavior for pure ThO2 or ThO2/UO2 mixed fuel. For a concentration of 75% ThO2/25% UO2, initial fuel performance parameters (peak centerline temperature, gap conductance, thermal expansion, etc.) predicted operating conditions are better than those of current UO2 fuel. A ThO2-ThO2/UO2 thermal conductivity model is still in the development stage. For all fuel calculations, an interim model that interpolates between the Belle and Berman predicted thermal conductivity using a correction factor for radiant heat transport and the MATPRO-predicted thermal conductivity for UO2 was applied.
