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Division Spotlight
Materials Science & Technology
The objectives of MSTD are: promote the advancement of materials science in Nuclear Science Technology; support the multidisciplines which constitute it; encourage research by providing a forum for the presentation, exchange, and documentation of relevant information; promote the interaction and communication among its members; and recognize and reward its members for significant contributions to the field of materials science in nuclear technology.
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.
Hugues W. Bonin, Alexander Sesonske
Nuclear Technology | Volume 68 | Number 3 | March 1985 | Pages 319-335
Technical Paper | Fuel Cycle | doi.org/10.13182/NT85-A33578
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The optimization of in-core fuel management for a thorium-fueled Canada deuterium uranium (CANDU) nuclear reactor was investigated by minimizing the total refueling rate at equilibrium with respect to criticality and power-peaking constraints. The computer code ASTERIX was written to solve the optimization problem, using a steepest descent technique with a moderate number of diffusion calculations required. Because of the presence of 233Pa in the fuel, the diffusion calculations are nonlinear and are solved numerically by the specially written program CALYPSO. Simulation was performed on simple models of a CANDU 600-MW reactor, with the core divided into two or four refueling zones. Results indicated that the optimization method investigated did work out well and that potential savings of up to 14% in the feed rate are possible for the self-sufficient equilibrium thorium cycle fuel, with an optimum refueling rate of 1.372 × 10−4 MgHE (heavy elements)/MWd. Sensitivity of the optimal discharge burnups to the value of the power-peaking constraint was significant.