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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.
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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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El Salvador: Looking to nuclear
In 2022, El Salvador’s leadership decided to expand its modest, mostly hydro- and geothermal-based electricity system, which is supported by expensive imported natural gas and diesel generation. They chose to use advanced nuclear reactors, preferably fueled by thorium-based fuels, to power their civilian efforts. The choice of thorium was made to inform the world that the reactor program was for civilian purposes only, and so they chose a fuel that was plentiful, easy to source and work with, and not a proliferation risk.
Hongchao Sun, Yiren Lian, Guoqiang Li, Lei Chen, Dongyuan Meng, Shutang Sun, Dajie Zhuang, Jiangang Zhang
Nuclear Technology | Volume 211 | Number 1 | January 2025 | Pages 32-38
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2024.2312723
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A fire accident is one typical postulated accident in a nuclear fuel cycling facility. Safety-related data on a combustible fire are necessary to evaluate the safety of nuclear fuel cycling facilities under fire accident conditions quantitatively. Accurate and reliable data should be obtained by performing some demonstration tests.
This study deals with the ignition and combustion characteristics of solvent involved at a nuclear fuel cycling facility and the fire behavior during a solvent fire. Small-scale and large-scale tests were conducted at the China Institute for Radiation Protection. The minimum ignition energy of the solvent under different temperatures was obtained. The test data were used to judge the possibility that the organic solvent ignited by a spark. Parameters such as combustion rate, smoke gas, aerosol release of solvent combustion, temperature distribution, and pressure change in the solvent fire cell were also obtained. The test results can be used as conservative estimates of the amount of aerosol release during a solvent fire. The experimental data also can be used to develop preventive and mitigation measures for solvent fire accidents. This paper puts forward information based on the experimental data and the recent international study.