ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
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
ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Apr 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
May 2025
Nuclear Technology
April 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Norway’s Halden reactor takes first step toward decommissioning
The government of Norway has granted the transfer of the Halden research reactor from the Institute for Energy Technology (IFE) to the state agency Norwegian Nuclear Decommissioning (NND). The 25-MWt Halden boiling water reactor operated from 1958 to 2018 and was used in the research of nuclear fuel, reactor internals, plant procedures and monitoring, and human factors.
Ramiro Pareja, Nieves De Diego, Rosa Maria De La Cruz, Javier Del Río
Nuclear Technology | Volume 104 | Number 1 | October 1993 | Pages 52-63
Technical Paper | Material | doi.org/10.13182/NT93-A34869
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Positron lifetime and microhardness measurements have been performed on untreated, thermal-aged, neutron-irradiated, and postirradiation-annealed samples of reactor pressure vessel steels with the purpose of investigating the mechanisms of irradiation-induced hardening and recovery of the mechanical properties in these materials. The positron lifetime experiments have not revealed any evidence of the formation of a significant concentration of voids or vacancy clusters in samples irradiated at ∼290°C with fluences ≤2.71 × 1023 n/m2 (E > 1 MeV), but they suggest a dislocation annealing induced by the irradiation. Isochronal annealing experiments with neutron-irradiated samples show a simultaneous recovery in their positron lifetime and microhardness at ∼340°C. From the microhardness measurements, the yield strength of the irradiated material has been estimated. The results appear to be consistent with a model of hardening due to irradiation-induced dissolution of precipitates with formation of small metastable precipitates after postirradiation aging and recovery induced by the disappearance of these metastable precipitates.