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Division Spotlight
Nuclear Criticality Safety
NCSD provides communication among nuclear criticality safety professionals through the development of standards, the evolution of training methods and materials, the presentation of technical data and procedures, and the creation of specialty publications. In these ways, the division furthers the exchange of technical information on nuclear criticality safety with the ultimate goal of promoting the safe handling of fissionable materials outside reactors.
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.
Robby Christian, Hyun Gook Kang (RPI)
Proceedings | Nuclear Plant Instrumentation, Control, and Human-Machine Interface Technolgies (NPIC&HMIT 2019) | Orlando, FL, February 9-14, 2019 | Pages 1-9
Operating criteria for Emergency Core Cooling System (ECCS) has been prescribed to maintain integrity of Zr-based fuel assemblies during a Loss of Coolant Accident (LOCA). With new Accident Tolerant Fuel (ATF) designs planned to replace current nuclear fuels, the ECCS criteria should be re-configured properly. This paper proposes a risk-informed approach to establishing the ECCS criteria for Silicon Carbide (SiC) cladding ATF. SiC failure modes were categorized into deterministic and stochastic. A methodology to calculate SiC stochastic tensile fracture probability was outlined. The cladding functional failure probability was formulated from the combination of fractures in each layer of SiC clad. ECCS performance, which includes mass flow rate and actuation timing of high and low pressure active injection, were varied to investigate clad failures. The SiC clad failure probability was found in the order of 1E-15 when it replaced Zr-clad while keeping ECCS criteria the same. A deterministic clad failure occurred when ECCS actuation exceeds 936 seconds after a large break LOCA, or when the ECCS mass flow rate was less than 4% of its designed capacity. When the likelihood of ECCS to perform beyond this criteria was less than 7E-4, the overall risk from deterministic and stochastic failures was less than ECCS risk in cooling Zr-clad of 1E-3. Results suggested that ECCS criteria for SiC may be relaxed compared to the criteria for Zr-clad. This relaxation may provide reductions in operational and maintenance costs.