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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.
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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
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.
V. P. Sinha, D. Kohli, R. Rakesh, P. V. Thakar, A. Kumar
Nuclear Technology | Volume 192 | Number 1 | October 2015 | Pages 35-47
Technical Paper | Fuel Cycle and Management | doi.org/10.13182/NT14-59
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Dispersion-type plate fuel elements are being fabricated with U3Si2 dispersoid (prepared by an innovative powder processing route) in aluminum matrix and clad in Al alloy for the modified core of the APSARA reactor by a standard picture frame technique followed by hot roll bonding operation at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre Metallic Fuels Division. The fabrication regime allows the fuel elements to be exposed at 500°C for almost 5 h (total duration including hot roll bonding and blister test operation). Therefore, it is expected that during hot roll bonding and blister test operation, U3Si2 will chemically interact with aluminum and form an intermediate phase. Hence, the chemical interaction behavior of fuel dispersoid (U3Si2, prepared by powder metallurgy route) and matrix (aluminum) in plate fuel elements and its effect on mechanical properties is studied in the present paper.
Therefore, a comparative study between an actual plate fuel element (i.e., U3Si2 dispersed in aluminum matrix and with Al alloy clad) and a sandwich plate with chemically inert material (i.e., Y2O3) as dispersed in aluminum matrix with Al alloy clad was carried out. The roll bonded samples were investigated through pull and peel tests, microhardness, tensile test, optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, electron probe microanalysis, and X-ray diffraction for various metallurgical examinations. During the course of study, it was observed that U3Si2 dispersoids in actual plate fuel elements were enveloped by a different phase while the dispersoid of Y2O3 remained inert in the surrogate plate under a similar fabrication history. The study concludes that limited exposure of the actual fuel plate at 500°C for 5 h results in improvement of bond strength mainly due to chemical interaction between fuel dispersoid and aluminum. The study also concludes that the tensile strength and ductility of the fuel plates did not show any adverse effects during dispersoid-matrix chemical interaction; however, the modulus of elasticity was found lower than the theoretically estimated value calculated by composite theory. The observations derived in the study are critical from the viewpoint that a decrease in the elastic modulus of the plate would adversely affect its flow-induced vibration properties during reactor operation. It may also be concluded that exposing the plate fuel elements at 500°C for longer duration (i.e., 30 h) will result in excessive swelling because of the accelerated interaction between dispersoid and matrix, which will eventually deteriorate the desired properties.