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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.
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2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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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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Proving DRACO will deliver
The United States is now closer than it has been in over five decades to launching the first nuclear thermal rocket into space, thanks to DRACO—the Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Orbit.
Hangbok Choi, Jongwon Choi, Myung S. Yang
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 131 | Number 1 | January 1999 | Pages 62-77
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE99-A2018
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In the DUPIC fuel cycle, spent pressurized water reactor (PWR) fuel is refabricated as a DUPIC fuel by a dry process. Because the spent PWR fuel composition depends on the initial enrichment and burnup conditions of PWR fuel, the composition of DUPIC fuel is not uniquely defined. To reduce the effects of such a composition heterogeneity on core performance, an adjustment of DUPIC fuel composition was studied. The composition adjustment was made in two steps: mixing two spent PWR fuel assemblies of higher and lower 239Pu contents and blending in fresh uranium with the mixed spent PWR fuels. Because the fuel and core performances depend on both the absolute amount of fissile isotopes and the ratio of major fissile isotope contents, a parametric study was performed to determine the reference compositions of 235U and 239Pu. The reference enrichments of 235U and 239Pu were determined such that the DUPIC core performance is comparable to that of a natural uranium core with high spent PWR fuel utilization and low fuel cycle cost. Under this condition, it is possible to utilize 90% of spent PWR fuels as the DUPIC fuel formula. On average, the amounts of slightly enriched and depleted uranium used for blending correspond to 8.6 and 10.6%, respectively, of the mass of candidate spent PWR fuels.