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Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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Powering the future: How the DOE is fueling nuclear fuel cycle research and development
As global interest in nuclear energy surges, the United States must remain at the forefront of research and development to ensure national energy security, advance nuclear technologies, and promote international cooperation on safety and nonproliferation. A crucial step in achieving this is analyzing how funding and resources are allocated to better understand how to direct future research and development. The Department of Energy has spearheaded this effort by funding hundreds of research projects across the country through the Nuclear Energy University Program (NEUP). This initiative has empowered dozens of universities to collaborate toward a nuclear-friendly future.
K. Chen, C. A. Erdman, M. F. Kennedy, A. B. Reynolds
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 83 | Number 4 | April 1983 | Pages 459-472
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE83-A18649
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A homogeneous nucleation-condensation growth model was developed for calculating particle-size distributions measured in capacitor discharge vaporization (CDV) experiments conducted at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Uranium dioxide pellets were partially vaporized in an argon environment by rapid energy deposition through capacitor discharge. This was followed by rapid expansion and subsequent condensation of the UO2 vapor. Measured primary particle-size distributions of the resulting aerosols were lognormal, with a geometric mean particle diameter of (0.014 ± 0.002) µm and a geometric standard deviation of 1.7 ± 0.1. It was postulated that the expanding UO2 vapor compressed the surrounding argon as in a spherical shock tube and that the aerosol was generated by homogeneous nucleation and condensation growth in the resulting rarefaction wave. The calculated motion of the U02-argon interface is in approximate agreement with the movies of the expansion process. The calculated particle-size distributions are in agreement with the measured distributions except at the large particle end. This agreement indicates that the small primary particles from the CDV tests resulted from homogeneous nucleation and condensation growth, as assumed in the analytical model.