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Radiation Protection & Shielding
The Radiation Protection and Shielding Division is developing and promoting radiation protection and shielding aspects of nuclear science and technology — including interaction of nuclear radiation with materials and biological systems, instruments and techniques for the measurement of nuclear radiation fields, and radiation shield design and evaluation.
Meeting Spotlight
Utility Working Conference and Vendor Technology Expo (UWC 2024)
August 4–7, 2024
Marco Island, FL|JW Marriott Marco Island
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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
Vogtle-3 shuts down for valve issue
One of the new Vogtle units in Georgia was shut down unexpectedly on Monday last week for a valve issue that has since been investigated and repaired. According to multiple local news outlets, Georgia Power reported on July 17 that Unit 3 was back in service.
Southern Company spokesperson Jacob Hawkins confirmed that Vogtle-3 went off line at 9:25 p.m. local time on July 8 “due to lowering water levels in the steam generators caused by a valve issue on one of the three main feedwater pumps.”
Ser Gi Hong, Ehud Greenspan, Yeong Il Kim
Nuclear Technology | Volume 149 | Number 1 | January 2005 | Pages 22-48
Technical Paper | Fuel Cycle and Management | doi.org/10.13182/NT05-A3577
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A once-for-life, uniform composition, blanket-free and fuel-shuffling-free reference core has been designed for the Encapsulated Nuclear Heat Source (ENHS) to provide the design goals of a nearly zero burnup reactivity swing throughout ~20 yr of full-power operation up to the peak discharge burnup of more than 100 GWd/t HM. What limits the core life is radiation damage to the HT-9 structural material. The temperature coefficients of reactivity are all negative, except for that of the coolant expansion. However, the negative reactivity coefficient associated with the radial expansion of the core structure can compensate for the coolant thermal expansion. The void coefficient is positive but of no safety concern because the boiling temperature of lead or lead-bismuth is so high that there is no conceivable mechanism for the introduction of significant void fraction into the core. The core reactivity coefficients, reactivity worth, and power distributions are almost constant throughout the core life.It was found possible to design such once-for-life cores using different qualities of Pu and transuranics as long as U is used as the primary fertile material. It is also feasible to design ENHS cores using nitride rather than metallic fuel. Relative to the reference metallic fuel core, nitride fuel cores offer up to ~25% higher discharge burnup and longer life, up to ~38% more energy per core, a significantly more negative Doppler reactivity coefficient, and less positive coolant expansion and coolant void reactivity coefficient but a somewhat smaller negative fuel expansion reactivity coefficient. The pitch-to-diameter ratio (1.45 of the nitride fuel cores using enriched N) is larger than that (1.36) for the reference metallic fuel core, implying a reduction of the coolant friction loss, thus enabling an increase in the power level that can be removed from the core by natural circulation cooling.It is also possible to design Pu-U(10Zr) fueled ENHS-type cores using Na as the primary coolant with either Na or Pb-Bi secondary coolants. The Na-cooled cores feature a tighter lattice and are therefore more compact but have spikier power distribution, more positive coolant temperature reactivity coefficients, and smaller reactivity worth of the control elements.