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Division Spotlight
Education, Training & Workforce Development
The Education, Training & Workforce Development Division provides communication among the academic, industrial, and governmental communities through the exchange of views and information on matters related to education, training and workforce development in nuclear and radiological science, engineering, and technology. Industry leaders, education and training professionals, and interested students work together through Society-sponsored meetings and publications, to enrich their professional development, to educate the general public, and to advance nuclear and radiological science and engineering.
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!
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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.
Pavel Hejzlar, Cliff B. Davis
Nuclear Technology | Volume 147 | Number 3 | September 2004 | Pages 344-367
Technical Paper | Medium-Power Lead-Alloy Reactors | doi.org/10.13182/NT04-A3536
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A lead-bismuth-cooled fast reactor concept targeted for a balanced mission of actinide burning and low-cost electricity production is proposed and its performance analyzed. The design explores the potential benefits of thorium-based fuel in actinide-burning cores, in particular in terms of the reduction of the large reactivity swing and enhancement of the small Doppler coefficient typical of fertile-free actinide burners. Reduced electricity production cost is pursued through a longer cycle length than that used for fertile-free burners and thus a higher capacity factor. It is shown that the concept can achieve a high transuranics destruction rate, which is only 20% lower than that of an accelerator-driven system with fertile-free fuel. The small negative fuel temperature reactivity coefficient, small positive coolant temperature reactivity coefficient, and negative core radial expansion coefficient provide self-regulating characteristics so that the reactor is capable of inherent shutdown during major transients without scram, as in the Integral Fast Reactor. This is confirmed by thermal-hydraulic analysis of several transients without scram, including primary coolant pump trip, station blackout, and reactivity step insertion, which showed that the reactor was able to meet all identified thermal limits. However, the benefits of high actinide consumption and small reactivity swing can be attained only if the uranium from the discharged fuel is separated and not recycled. This additional uranium separation step and thorium reprocessing significantly increase the fuel cycle costs. Because the higher fuel cycle cost has a larger impact on the overall cost of electricity than the savings from the higher capacity factor afforded through use of thorium, this concept appears less promising than the fertile-free actinide burners.