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Division Spotlight
Decommissioning & Environmental Sciences
The mission of the Decommissioning and Environmental Sciences (DES) Division is to promote the development and use of those skills and technologies associated with the use of nuclear energy and the optimal management and stewardship of the environment, sustainable development, decommissioning, remediation, reutilization, and long-term surveillance and maintenance of nuclear-related installations, and sites. The target audience for this effort is the membership of the Division, the Society, and the public at large.
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
ARPA-E announces $40 million to develop transmutation technologies for UNF
The Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E) announced $40 million in funding to develop cutting-edge technologies to enable the transmutation of used nuclear fuel into less-radioactive substances. According to ARPA-E, the new initiative addresses one of the agency’s core goals as outlined by Congress: to provide transformative solutions to improve the management, cleanup, and disposal of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel.
K. L. Davis, D. L. Knudson, J. L. Rempe, J. C. Crepeau, S. Solstad
Nuclear Technology | Volume 191 | Number 1 | July 2015 | Pages 92-105
Technical Note | Materials for Nuclear Systems | doi.org/10.13182/NT14-60
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
New materials are being considered for fuel, cladding, and structures in next-generation and existing nuclear reactors. Such materials can undergo significant dimensional and physical changes during high-temperature irradiation. To accurately predict these changes, real-time data must be obtained under prototypic irradiation conditions for model development and validation. To provide these data, programs such as the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) National Scientific Users Facility (NSUF) have funded researchers at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) High Temperature Test Laboratory (HTTL) to develop several instrumented test rigs to obtain data in real time from specimens irradiated in well-controlled pressurized water reactor (PWR) coolant conditions in ATR. This technical note reports the status of INL efforts to develop and evaluate prototype test rigs that rely on linear variable differential transformers (LVDTs) in laboratory settings. Although similar LVDT-based test rigs have been deployed in lower-flux materials testing reactors (MTRs), this effort is unique because it relies on robust LVDTs that can withstand higher temperatures and higher fluxes than often found in other MTR irradiations. Specifically, the test rigs are designed for detecting changes in the length and diameter of specimens irradiated in ATR PWR loops. Once implemented, these test rigs will provide ATR users with unique capabilities that are sorely needed to obtain measurements, such as elongation caused by thermal expansion and/or creep loading, and diameter changes associated with fuel and cladding swelling, pellet-cladding interaction, and crud buildup.