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Division Spotlight
Robotics & Remote Systems
The Mission of the Robotics and Remote Systems Division is to promote the development and application of immersive simulation, robotics, and remote systems for hazardous environments for the purpose of reducing hazardous exposure to individuals, reducing environmental hazards and reducing the cost of performing work.
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
Argonne’s METL gears up to test more sodium fast reactor components
Argonne National Laboratory has successfully swapped out an aging cold trap in the sodium test loop called METL (Mechanisms Engineering Test Loop), the Department of Energy announced April 23. The upgrade is the first of its kind in the United States in more than 30 years, according to the DOE, and will help test components and operations for the sodium-cooled fast reactors being developed now.
Guillaume Martin (CEA)
Proceedings | 2018 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants (ICAPP 2018) | Charlotte, NC, April 8-11, 2018 | Pages 113-117
Scenarios of the evolution of the French nuclear fleet are developed by CEA, EDF, ORANO and FRAMATOME, following conservative assumptions in terms of technology, safety, regulation and costs. In the next decades, the SFR demonstrator ASTRID paves the way to the deployment of a few fast reactors used to consume PWR MOX spent fuel in priority. In the 2090 to 2120 period, the number of SFR goes on growing. The fleet eventually comes to a mix of breeder SFR and EPR (European Pressurized water Reactor) supplied with LEU and MOX fuels. Such a fleet composition enables the stabilization of spent fuel and plutonium inventories. Previously, a steady-state regime was reached in the next century, thanks to a fleet composed of ~40% SFR.
A new methodology has been applied. This methodology was recently developed to put into equations the equilibrium conditions of nuclear power systems composed of various reactor types. Fleets with the less SFR are now favored, since SFR are reputed to be more expensive than thermal reactors. Results show that the fraction of SFR in the fleet can be reduced of around 10% in comparison to the fleet previously deployed. However, the fleet composition which minimizes the SFR fraction at equilibrium leads to plutonium contents in EPR MOX fuels near the safety limit which is currently accounted for.