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Isotopes & Radiation
Members are devoted to applying nuclear science and engineering technologies involving isotopes, radiation applications, and associated equipment in scientific research, development, and industrial processes. Their interests lie primarily in education, industrial uses, biology, medicine, and health physics. Division committees include Analytical Applications of Isotopes and Radiation, Biology and Medicine, Radiation Applications, Radiation Sources and Detection, and Thermal Power Sources.
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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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Former Exelon CEO Chris Crane remembered for “transformational milestones”
Crane
Exelon announced that Chris Crane, the company’s former chief executive, passed away on Saturday in Chicago at the age of 65.
Crane served as the company’s president and CEO from 2012 until his retirement in December 2022. During his tenure, he steered the energy company through several transformational milestones, including the successful mergers with Constellation Energy in 2012 and Pepco Holdings in 2016, creating the largest utility business by customer count in the United States.
In 2022, with the spin-off of Constellation as the generation and retail side of energy business (with the largest U.S. nuclear fleet), Crane led the creation of a stand-alone transmission and delivery energy company.
Sean M. McDeavitt, Yunlin Xu, Thomas J. Downar, Alvin A. Solomon
Nuclear Technology | Volume 157 | Number 1 | January 2007 | Pages 37-52
Technical Paper | Fuel Cycle and Management | doi.org/10.13182/NT07-A3800
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The thorium oxide fuel cycle has been a viable technology option since the beginning of the nuclear era. By placing (Th,U)O2 in a zirconium matrix, the resulting cermet nuclear fuel properties create a strong negative void reactivity coefficient, which is especially appealing for boiling water reactor applications. The combination of the thorium fuel cycle and zirconium matrix cermets has enabled a new core design for a simplified boiling water reactor (SBWR). Core design simulations show that an 8-yr fuel cycle is achievable using this fuel concept. Further, if burnable poisons are added to the powder fabrication mix, an essentially flat reactivity swing is created that could enable an autonomous control system. In addition to the SBWR core design, a preliminary investigation is presented for experimental fuel fabrication methods designed to simplify cermet fabrication. Spray drying and sintering were used to create mixed-oxide (Th,U)O2 powders with a nominal diameter of ~200 m, with ~10 vol% uniformly distributed porosity and nominal grain size of 5 m. In addition, a low-temperature cermet fabrication method was used to fabricate simulated fuel pins with a porous zirconium matrix. Results from these initial development experiments are promising for the future application of the cermet fuel, but further work is required to demonstrate their viability.