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Division Spotlight
Nuclear Installations Safety
Devoted specifically to the safety of nuclear installations and the health and safety of the public, this division seeks a better understanding of the role of safety in the design, construction and operation of nuclear installation facilities. The division also promotes engineering and scientific technology advancement associated with the safety of such facilities.
Meeting Spotlight
2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
Standards Program
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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Nuclear Science and Engineering
June 2024
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Latest News
How robust is HALEU from a nonproliferation perspective?
Shikha Prasad
High-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) has emerged as a popular fuel choice for advanced small modular reactors due to its long power production periods before refueling. It is currently being pursued by TerraPower, X-energy, BWX Technologies, Kairos, Oklo, and other reactor companies. HALEU has a uranium-235 enrichment ranging from 5 percent to 20 percent, whereas traditional LWRs use low-enriched uranium fuel enriched up to 5 percent.
HALEU will provide power for longer durations, compared with traditional LWRs. But could it also provide an opportunity for more rapid proliferation, as is speculated in a 2023 National Academy of Sciences report on advanced nuclear reactors (nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/26630/)?
If a nuclear proliferator conspires to divert fresh nuclear fuel for weapons production when it has not been used in a reactor, the effort required in separative work units (SWUs) to enrich U-235 from 5 percent to 90 percent and that required to enrich from 20 percent to 90 percent are both very small, compared with the effort required to enrich U-235 from its natural abundance to the initial 5 percent.
Technical Session|Methods
Tuesday, April 23, 2024|10:15AM–12:00PM PDT|Franciscan D
Session Chair:
Nader Satvat (Kairos Power)
Alternate Chair:
Marianna Papadionysiou (Paul Scherrer Institute)
Session Organizer:
Mathieu Hursin (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne)
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On the Impact of Fuel Velocity Profile on Loss of Delayed Neutron Precursors in the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment
10:15–10:35AM PDT
Mario Ponce Tovar (Seaborg Technologies), Lorenz Fischer (Seaborg Technologies), Lubomir Bures (Seaborg Technologies)
Paper
Development of the Molten Salt Reactor Application in French Reference System Code CATHARE3
10:35–10:55AM PDT
Ruggero Rosselli (CEA), Nathan Greiner (CEA), Marine Anderhuber (CEA), Théotime Le Borgne de Palfray (CEA)
Presented by Mathis Caprais (CEA)
Development of a Delayed Neutron Precursor Tracking Module for Molten Salt Reactors in the iMC Monte Carlo Code
10:55–11:15AM PDT
Inyup Kim (KAIST), Taesuk Oh (KAIST), Yonghee Kim (KAIST)
Quantifying Uncertainties: Evaluating the Impact of Molten Salt Thermal Property Variability on Reactor Operation
11:15–11:35AM PDT
Davide Rotilio (Univ. California, Berkeley), Mauricio Tano (INL), Abdalla Abou-Jaoude (INL), Samuel Walker (INL), Massimiliano Fratoni (Univ. California, Berkeley), Renato Gatto (Sapienza Univ. di Roma)
Squirrel; a MOOSE Based App for Solving Quasi-Static Point Kinetics in Molten Salt Reactors
11:35–11:55AM PDT
P. Pfahl (Technical Univ. Denmark), A. Chambon (Technical Univ. Denmark), J. Groth-Jensen (Seaborg Technologies), B. Lauritzen (Technical Univ. Denmark)
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