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Division Spotlight
Young Members Group
The Young Members Group works to encourage and enable all young professional members to be actively involved in the efforts and endeavors of the Society at all levels (Professional Divisions, ANS Governance, Local Sections, etc.) as they transition from the role of a student to the role of a professional. It sponsors non-technical workshops and meetings that provide professional development and networking opportunities for young professionals, collaborates with other Divisions and Groups in developing technical and non-technical content for topical and national meetings, encourages its members to participate in the activities of the Groups and Divisions that are closely related to their professional interests as well as in their local sections, introduces young members to the rules and governance structure of the Society, and nominates young professionals for awards and leadership opportunities available to members.
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
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.”
Edward Lahoda, Herbert Feinroth, Marcelo Salvatore, Diego O. Russo, Holly Hamilton
Nuclear Technology | Volume 160 | Number 1 | October 2007 | Pages 100-111
Technical Paper | Annular Fuel | doi.org/10.13182/NT07-A3886
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This paper summarizes the work performed to examine the feasibility of manufacturing internally and externally cooled annular fuel for high-power-density pressurized water reactors (PWRs) and to demonstrate commercially viable manufacturing processes at bench scale. Five different manufacturing processes were considered, and two were selected for further development and demonstration. These are (a) the traditional press and sinter technique currently used in solid pellet manufacture and (b) the vibration compaction (VIPAC) technique, in which granulated and sintered urania fuel particles are vibration compacted into a prefabricated annular space. Two separate pellet manufacturing trials were undertaken, one at the Westinghouse, Columbia, South Carolina, plant and one at INVAP facilities in Argentina. At the INVAP plant the pellets were loaded between small and large cladding tubes and seal welded to demonstrate the entire manufacturing steps. At Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, the VIPAC approach was used to perform short test segments as well as 1219-mm (4-ft)-long fuel rods. The overall conclusion of the work is that the press and sinter technique can produce annular pellets and annular fuel elements that meet the density and dimensional needs of the annular fuel design and hence is a viable approach toward fabrication of such high-power-density fuel. This process is most like that used in current commercial fuel production and hence would pose the least disruption in any future annular fuel use in commercial PWRs. This work also demonstrated that the VIPAC approach is capable of making high-quality annular fuel elements, but not with the fuel density required for adequate performance. Addition of uranium metal powder to the vibrated compact was found to be necessary to achieve the required uranium fuel loading.