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Human Factors, Instrumentation & Controls
Improving task performance, system reliability, system and personnel safety, efficiency, and effectiveness are the division's main objectives. Its major areas of interest include task design, procedures, training, instrument and control layout and placement, stress control, anthropometrics, psychological input, and motivation.
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2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
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Latest News
G7 pledges support for nuclear at Italy meeting
The Group of Seven (G7) recommitted its support for nuclear energy in the countries that opt to use it at a Ministerial Meeting on Climate in Italy last month.
In a statement following the April meeting, the group committed to support multilateral efforts to strengthen the resilience of nuclear supply chains, referencing the goal set by 25 countries during last year’s COP28 climate conference in Dubai to triple global nuclear generating capacity by 2050.
Yang Hong Jung, Hee Moon Kim
Nuclear Technology | Volume 207 | Number 12 | December 2021 | Pages 1842-1850
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2020.1845057
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This study characterizes a failed discharged fuel rod with 53 000 MWd/tonne U from a nuclear power plant in Korea. Chalk River Unidentified Deposits (CRUD) and the oxide layer were observed using an electron probe micro-analyzer (EPMA, SX-50 R, CAMECA, France) with wavelength dispersive (X-ray) spectroscopy. A normally irradiated cladding specimen was analyzed for comparison with the failed fuel rod. The analysis revealed an oxide layer with a thickness of about 10 μm and double-stratified agglomerates of CRUD species shapes. In contrast, sound fuel rods irradiated under conditions similar to failed fuel showed clusters in which Fe, Ni, and Cr were distributed. The main elements constituting the CRUD material, notably Ni and Fe, were located in the same position. Moreover, the thickness of the oxidized layer of the failed fuel rod was found to be significantly different from the thickness of the sound fuel rod.
Consequently, EPMA techniques offer the possibility of identifying and analyzing the CRUD phases and segregations in spent pressurized water reactor fuel. Although phases and segregations are small in terms of the amount expected to be present in background radiation, they nevertheless present a significant analytical challenge.