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Division Spotlight
Isotopes & Radiation
Members are devoted to applying nuclear science and engineering technologies involving isotopes, radiation applications, and associated equipment in scientific research, development, and industrial processes. Their interests lie primarily in education, industrial uses, biology, medicine, and health physics. Division committees include Analytical Applications of Isotopes and Radiation, Biology and Medicine, Radiation Applications, Radiation Sources and Detection, and Thermal Power Sources.
Meeting Spotlight
Utility Working Conference and Vendor Technology Expo (UWC 2024)
August 4–7, 2024
Marco Island, FL|JW Marriott Marco Island
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
Virginia utility considers SMRs
Dominion Energy Virginia has issued a request for proposals from leading nuclear companies to study the feasibility of putting a small modular reactor at its North Anna nuclear power plant.
While the utility says it is not a commitment to build an SMR at the site, the RFP is “an important first step in evaluating the technology and the North Anna site to support Dominion Energy customers’ future energy needs consistent with the company’s most recent Integrated Resource Plan.”
Werner Schenk, Heinz Nabielek
Nuclear Technology | Volume 96 | Number 3 | December 1991 | Pages 323-336
Technical Paper | Nuclear Fuel Cycle | doi.org/10.13182/NT96-3-323
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The essential feature of small, modular high-temperature reactors (HTRs) is the inherent limitation in maximum accident temperature to below 1600°C combined with the ability of coated particle fuel to retain all safety-relevant fission products under these conditions. To demonstrate this ability, spherical fuel elements with modern TRISO particles are irradiated and subjected to heating tests. Even after extended heating times at 1600°C, fission product release does not exceed the already low values projected for normal operating conditions. Details of fission product distribution within spherical fuel elements heated at constant temperatures of 1600, 1700, and 1800°C are presented. The measurements confirm the silicon carbide (SiC) coating layer as the most important fission product barrier up to 1800° C. If the SiC fails (or is defective), the following transport properties at 1600 to 1800°C can be observed: cesium shows the fastest release from the UO2 kernel but is highly sorbed in the buffer layer of the particle and in the matrix graphite of the sphere; strontium is retained strongly both in UO2 kernels and in matrix graphite, but can penetrate SiC in some cases where cesium is still completely retained; only if all coating layers are breached can iodine and noble gases be released. For the first 100 h at 1600°C (enveloping all possible accident scenarios of small HTRs), these fission products are almost completely retained in the coated particles.