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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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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Deep Space: The new frontier of radiation controls
In commercial nuclear power, there has always been a deliberate tension between the regulator and the utility owner. The regulator fundamentally exists to protect the worker, and the utility, to make a profit. It is a win-win balance.
From the U.S. nuclear industry has emerged a brilliantly successful occupational nuclear safety record—largely the result of an ALARA (as low as reasonably achievable) process that has driven exposure rates down to what only a decade ago would have been considered unthinkable. In the U.S. nuclear industry, the system has accomplished an excellent, nearly seamless process that succeeds to the benefit of both employee and utility owner.
P. E. Reagan, F. L. Carlsen, R. M. Carroll
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 18 | Number 3 | March 1964 | Pages 301-318
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE64-A20051
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Fission-gas release from pyrolytic-carbon-coated uranium carbide particles was studied as part of a fuel-development program for gas-cooled reactors. The particles were contained in a test capsule between concentric cylinders of porous graphite and were heated by fission heat. A small flow of helium was used to sweep the fission gas from the test capsule. Uranium carbide particles coated with three types of pyrolytic carbon (laminar, columnar, and duplex), as well as uncoated uranium carbide particles, were irradiated at temperatures up to 1800 F. The steady-state fission-gas release rates were measured as a function of temperature and burnup. All three coating types greatly reduced the fission-gas release rate from uranium carbide particles; the duplex coating was much better than the laminar or the columnar coatings. Post-irradiation examination revealed less than 0.1% broken coatings for the duplex coating. A radiation-induced reaction zone was observed at the fuel/coating interface for all three types. A correlation was made between the number of broken coatings and fission-gas release rate.