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Aerospace Nuclear Science & Technology
Organized to promote the advancement of knowledge in the use of nuclear science and technologies in the aerospace application. Specialized nuclear-based technologies and applications are needed to advance the state-of-the-art in aerospace design, engineering and operations to explore planetary bodies in our solar system and beyond, plus enhance the safety of air travel, especially high speed air travel. Areas of interest will include but are not limited to the creation of nuclear-based power and propulsion systems, multifunctional materials to protect humans and electronic components from atmospheric, space, and nuclear power system radiation, human factor strategies for the safety and reliable operation of nuclear power and propulsion plants by non-specialized personnel and more.
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ANS Student Conference 2025
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Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Norway’s Halden reactor takes first step toward decommissioning
The government of Norway has granted the transfer of the Halden research reactor from the Institute for Energy Technology (IFE) to the state agency Norwegian Nuclear Decommissioning (NND). The 25-MWt Halden boiling water reactor operated from 1958 to 2018 and was used in the research of nuclear fuel, reactor internals, plant procedures and monitoring, and human factors.
Jin-Li Cao, Wei Xiao, Qi Cao, Bing-Ling He
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 74 | Number 3 | October 2018 | Pages 177-185
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2017.1416245
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Experiments observed preferential He bubble formation in carbide precipitates M23C6 during low-temperature He irradiation in ferritic-martensitic steels. However, the process and mechanism of He trapping in M23C6 present a challenge to measure. Using density functional theory, we have systematically investigated He distribution, migration, and accumulation in Cr23C6. The formation energies of interstitial and substitutional He in Cr23C6 are 3.50 and 3.16 eV, respectively, remarkably lower than those in Fe matrix. The higher solubility of He in Cr23C6 makes it an He-trapping center in martensitic steels. On the other hand, the migration barrier of interstitial He in Cr23C6 is 2.58 eV, about 2.52 eV higher than that in bulk Fe. Furthermore, we only find a very weak attraction potency for substitutional-interstitial He pair, 0.25 eV, and even no binding trend for interstitial-interstitial or substitutional-substitutional He pairs, which suggests that it is more difficult for He atoms to move and less powerful driving force to accumulate in Cr23C6 than those in Fe matrix. Our results indicate that the trapping effect results from a lower charge density zone in Cr23C6, and predict that the small and dense Cr23C6 particles may hinder bubble growth at the initial stage, which can improve the resistance to irradiation void swelling.
