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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
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.”
Yi Yuan, M. S. Kazimi, P. Hejzlar
Nuclear Technology | Volume 160 | Number 1 | October 2007 | Pages 135-149
Technical Paper | Annular Fuel | doi.org/10.13182/NT07-A3888
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
To have adequate confidence in the proposed design of the internally and externally (I&E) cooled annular fuel, it is important to identify the fuel operational constraints from a materials performance perspective. To accomplish this goal, a capability for modeling I&E cooled annular fuel has been developed for two manufacturing approaches: (a) the sintered and pressed pellet approach and (b) the vibrationally compacted (VIPAC) particle approach. New models for the burnup and power radial distribution, fuel thermal and irradiation dimensional changes as well as fuel-cladding interaction mechanisms for annular fuels have been developed and incorporated into a modified version of the FRAPCON code. Fission gas release from the sintered fuel is found to be lower for the same burnup than the traditional solid fuel but slightly higher for the VIPAC fuel. The VIPAC internal rod pressure, however, remains below that of the solid fuel for much higher burnup. The power density constraints and design limits are studied, as well as sensitivity of the annular fuel design to fabrication and operation uncertainties. It is concluded that such fuel can be operated at 30 to 50% higher core power density than the current operating light water reactors, and to a burnup of 80 to 100 MWd/kg U. The major issue for the pellet fuel rod design is the asymmetry in heat transfer that might develop when the outer gap is closed early in the irradiation due to the outward thermal expansion of the fuel. Solutions to this issue via smaller initial inner gap, small roughness and tolerances on fuel and clad surfaces, or the addition of a highly porous ZrO2 layer on the outer pellet surface are evaluated. The main issue for the VIPAC fuel is selection of the particle sizes, which control both the effective density of the fuel and the fission gas release.