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Division Spotlight
Decommissioning & Environmental Sciences
The mission of the Decommissioning and Environmental Sciences (DES) Division is to promote the development and use of those skills and technologies associated with the use of nuclear energy and the optimal management and stewardship of the environment, sustainable development, decommissioning, remediation, reutilization, and long-term surveillance and maintenance of nuclear-related installations, and sites. The target audience for this effort is the membership of the Division, the Society, and the public at large.
Meeting Spotlight
International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering (M&C 2025)
April 27–30, 2025
Denver, CO|The Westin Denver Downtown
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
TerraPower begins U.K. regulatory approval process
Seattle-based TerraPower signaled its interest this week in building its Natrium small modular reactor in the United Kingdom, the company announced.
TerraPower sent a letter to the U.K.’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, formally establishing its intention to enter the U.K. generic design assessment (GDA) process. This is TerraPower’s first step in deployment of its Natrium technology—a 345-MW sodium fast reactor coupled with a molten salt energy storage unit—on the international stage.
Krishna Moorthi Sankar, Preet M. Singh
Nuclear Technology | Volume 210 | Number 11 | November 2024 | Pages 2074-2090
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2024.2309600
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
It has been widely acknowledged that the presence of impurities in molten fluoride salt can alter the salt/material interactions. However, the effects of various impurities such as oxides, metal fluorides, reducing impurities, etc., on the behavior of nuclear-grade graphite in molten fluoride salts have not been reported. This study focuses on understanding the effects of various oxidizing and reducing impurities on the wetting and infiltration behavior of molten FLiNaK salt for nuclear-grade IG-110 graphite.
Our results suggest that different impurities can cause different effects on nuclear graphite–molten salt interactions, with some impurities leading to significant degradation of the graphite. Our results demonstrate that certain impurities, such as Cr2O3 and CrF3, lead to a limited increase in wetting and infiltration of molten salt into nuclear graphite, while impurities such as Li2O lead to significantly increased wetting and infiltration throughout the cross section of the graphite specimen. Certain impurities, such as Li, can also lead to significant degradation of the graphite in the salt, with the extent of degradation increasing with the increase in the quantity of Li added.
Our results also demonstrate that firing of IG-110 graphite at 900°C under a reducing atmosphere made the graphite surface resistant to wetting by molten FLiNaK salt, as compared to the nonfired sample.
