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Conference Spotlight
2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 9–12, 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
IAEA again raises global nuclear power projections
Noting recent momentum behind nuclear power, the International Atomic Energy Agency has revised up its projections for the expansion of nuclear power, estimating that global nuclear operational capacity will more than double by 2050—reaching 2.6 times the 2024 level—with small modular reactors expected to play a pivotal role in this high-case scenario.
IAEA director general Rafael Mariano Grossi announced the new projections, contained in the annual report Energy, Electricity, and Nuclear Power Estimates for the Period up to 2050 at the 69th IAEA General Conference in Vienna.
In the report’s high-case scenario, nuclear electrical generating capacity is projected to increase to from 377 GW at the end of 2024 to 992 GW by 2050. In a low-case scenario, capacity rises 50 percent, compared with 2024, to 561 GW. SMRs are projected to account for 24 percent of the new capacity added in the high case and for 5 percent in the low case.
Taewoo Tak, Deokjung Lee, T. K. Kim
Nuclear Technology | Volume 183 | Number 3 | September 2013 | Pages 427-435
Technical Paper | Fuel Cycle and Management | doi.org/10.13182/NT13-A19430
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A new design of ultralong-cycle fast reactor (UCFR) with power rate of 1000 MW(electric) has been developed based on the strategy of breed and burn. The bottom region of the core with low-enriched uranium plays a role of igniter of the core burning and the upper natural uranium region acts as a blanket for breeding. Fissile materials are bred in the blanket and the active core moves upward at a speed of 5.0 cm/year. Through the core depletion calculation using Monte Carlo code McCARD, it is confirmed that a full-power operation of 60 years without refueling is feasible with respect to nuclear isotopics and criticality. Core performance characteristics have been evaluated in terms of axial/radial power shapes, reactivity feedback coefficients, etc. This design will serve as a base model for further design study of UCFRs using light water reactor spent fuels in the blanket region.