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Division Spotlight
Radiation Protection & Shielding
The Radiation Protection and Shielding Division is developing and promoting radiation protection and shielding aspects of nuclear science and technology — including interaction of nuclear radiation with materials and biological systems, instruments and techniques for the measurement of nuclear radiation fields, and radiation shield design and evaluation.
Meeting Spotlight
ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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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
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.
Elmar Eidelpes, Luis F. Ibarra, Ricardo A. Medina
Nuclear Technology | Volume 205 | Number 8 | August 2019 | Pages 1095-1118
Regular Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2019.1575127
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This study presents two statistical models that were developed to estimate the expected peak cladding hoop stress (CHS) and the amount of hydrogen in pressurized water reactor (PWR) spent nuclear fuel (SNF) rod cladding. Peak CHS is caused by high rod internal pressure during vacuum drying performed when transferring SNF to dry storage. During in-reactor operation of PWR fuel, the rod cladding tends to corrode and uptake hydrogen. The hydrogen content and CHS control hydride-related cladding embrittlement at low material temperatures. The two methodologies developed in this study were used to create a generic rod database with information on PWR SNF conditions. This database provides information on 100 000 randomly selected rods that form part of the current U.S. SNF inventory. According to the statistical results, the expected hydrogen content of PWR rod cladding is in a sensitive interval that may facilitate hydride reorientation. However, the modeling results suggest that the expected peak CHS of the selected rods is significantly below 90 MPa, which is the estimated lower bound stress necessary to trigger significant radial hydride embrittlement in cladding after being cooled to room temperature. Further, the results indicate that hydride embrittlement due to excessive hydrogen in cladding is unlikely. Therefore, a low probability of hydride-related embrittlement of PWR SNF cladding currently stored in the U.S. inventory is anticipated, even under consideration of low cladding temperatures after long-term SNF dry storage.
