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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.
Andrew Cartas, Haitang Wang, Ghatu Subhash, Ronald Baney, James Tulenko
Nuclear Technology | Volume 189 | Number 3 | March 2015 | Pages 258-267
Technical Paper | Fuel Cycle and Management | doi.org/10.13182/NT14-7
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A novel uranium dioxide (UO2)–carbon nanotube (CNT) ceramic matrix composite fuel concept has been proposed for a nuclear fuel with increased thermal conductivity. Investigations were performed to analyze the dispersion of CNTs in a UO2 matrix utilizing homogenization and sonication techniques. Ethanol and ortho-dichlorobenzene (ODCB) were utilized as solvents during the mixing process. Distributions of both multiwalled carbon nanotubes and single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) were analyzed. It has been determined that CNTs can be homogeneously distributed into a UO2 matrix using mechanical processes, sonication, and homogenization in the organic solvent ODCB. The powder mixture of UO2 and CNTs was sintered at 1300°C with a hold time of 5 min and 40-MPa pressure in a spark plasma sintering furnace, and the resulting grain size distribution was analyzed. It was observed that where the distribution of CNTs was not well controlled, significant grain growth of UO2 occurred. However, where the CNT distribution is well controlled, the grain growth is limited by the pinning effect of the CNTs along the grain boundaries. The resulting pellet thermal conductivity was improved by 29.7% with the addition of 5 vol % SWNT, relative to pure UO2 values. Raman spectroscopy in conjunction with scanning electron microscopy shows that most CNTs survive both the mixing and sintering processes.
