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Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Division Spotlight
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.
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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Nuclear Science and Engineering
August 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
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.
Milos I. Atz, Massimiliano Fratoni
Nuclear Technology | Volume 209 | Number 8 | August 2023 | Pages 1109-1128
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2023.2189430
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Decay heat is an important constraint for repository size and design because it can drive processes that affect performance and compromise critical materials. This paper investigates how compliance with repository thermal limits is affected by three decay heat management strategies: waste package loading, waste package spacing, and surface storage time. In particular, this paper focuses on how repository area, a result of package spacing, is impacted by waste loading and surface storage time. A two-part analytical heat transfer model is presented and executed iteratively to determine the minimum allowable repository area. The analysis considers three generic close-contact repository designs along with the wastes generated from the 40 fuel cycle analysis examples used to generate metric data for the Fuel Cycle Evaluation and Screening study.
Detailed results are presented for two fuel cycles: the once-through use of low-enriched uranium fuel in light water reactors and the continuous recycling of U and Pu in sodium fast reactors. Two limits for surface storage time are identified: the time required for disposal to be possible at all and the time at which further surface storage time yields no gains. The impact of waste loading is also diminished with increasing surface storage time. In general, the generic salt repository is most flexible to accept high-heat-generating wastes with less surface storage time than other repository environments. Limited-recycle fuel cycles are shown to pose a disposal challenge because of elevated, sustained decay heat generation in the waste.