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Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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Joint NEA project performs high-burnup test
An article in the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency’s July news bulletin noted that a first test has been completed for the High Burnup Experiments in Reactivity Initiated Accident (HERA) project. The project aim is to understand the performance of light water reactor fuel at high burnup under reactivity-initiated accidents (RIA).
William E. Kastenberg, Per F. Peterson, Joonhong Ahn, J. Burch, G. Casher, Paul L. Chambré, Ehud Greenspan, Donald R. Olander, Jasmina L. Vujic, B. Bessinger, Neville G. W. Cook, Fiona M. Doyle, L. Brun Hilbert, Jr.
Nuclear Technology | Volume 115 | Number 3 | September 1996 | Pages 298-310
Technical Paper | Radioactive Waste Management | doi.org/10.13182/NT96-2
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Potential routes to autocatalytic criticality in geologic repositories are systematically assessed. If highly enriched uranium (HEU) or 239Pu are transported and deposited in concentrations similar to natural uranium ore, in principle, criticality can occur. For some hypothesized critical configurations, removal of a small fraction of pore water provides a positive feedback mechanism that can lead to supercriticality. Rock heating and homogenization for these configurations can also significantly increase reactivity. At Yucca Mountain, it is highly unlikely that these configurations can occur; plutonium transport would occur primarily as colloids and deposit over short distances. HEU solute can move large distances in the Yucca Mountain setting; its ability to precipitate into critical configurations is unlikely because of a lack of active reducing agents. Appropriate engineering of the waste form and the repository can reduce any remaining probability of criticality.