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Conference Spotlight
2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 8–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
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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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Latest News
Japan gets new U for enrichment as global power and fuel plans grow
President Trump is in Japan today, with a visit with new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on the agenda. Takaichi, who took office just last week as Japan’s first female prime minister, has already spoken in favor of nuclear energy and of accelerating the restart of Japan’s long-shuttered power reactors, as Reuters and others have reported. Much of the uranium to power those reactors will be enriched at Japan’s lone enrichment facility—part of Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd.’s Rokkasho fuel complex—which accepted its first delivery of fresh uranium hexafluoride (UF₆) in 11 years earlier this month.
Youho Lee, Thomas J. McKrell, Chao Yue, Mujid S. Kazimi
Nuclear Technology | Volume 183 | Number 2 | August 2013 | Pages 210-227
Technical Paper | Fuel Cycle and Management/Materials for Nuclear Systems | doi.org/10.13182/NT12-122
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An experimental assessment was conducted of the silicon carbide (SiC) cladding oxidation rate in steam under conditions that are representative of loss-of-coolant accidents in light water reactors (LWRs). SiC oxidation tests were performed with monolithic alpha-phase tubular samples at atmospheric pressure for steam temperatures of 1140°C and 1500°C and a Reynolds number range of 40 to 330. Linear weight loss of SiC samples due to boundary layer controlled reaction of silica scale (SiO2 volatilization) was experimentally observed. The weight loss rate increased with increasing steam flow rate and temperature. Over the range of test conditions, SiC oxidation rates were shown to be about three orders of magnitude lower than the oxidation rates of Zircaloy-4. This underlines a weaker interplay between oxidation and mechanical property degradation in comparison with Zircaloy. SiC volatilization correlations for developing laminar flow in a vertical channel were formulated for LWR accident modeling.
