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Fuel Cycle & Waste Management
Devoted to all aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle including waste management, worldwide. Division specific areas of interest and involvement include uranium conversion and enrichment; fuel fabrication, management (in-core and ex-core) and recycle; transportation; safeguards; high-level, low-level and mixed waste management and disposal; public policy and program management; decontamination and decommissioning environmental restoration; and excess weapons materials disposition.
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2025 ANS Annual Conference
June 15–18, 2025
Chicago, IL|Chicago Marriott Downtown
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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Countering the nuclear workforce shortage narrative
James Chamberlain, director of the Nuclear, Utilities, and Energy Sector at Rullion, has declared that the nuclear industry will not have workforce challenges going forward. “It’s time to challenge the scarcity narrative,” he wrote in a recent online article. “Nuclear isn't short of talent; it’s short of imagination in how it attracts, trains, and supports the workforce of the future.”
Shi-Chien Lin, Michiko Hamasaki, Yii-Der Chuang
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 71 | Number 3 | September 1979 | Pages 237-250
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE79-A19061
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
We studied the dispersion and spheroidization treatment of zirconium hydride in reactor-grade zirconium alloys. Our aim was to find a workable way to improve the properties of Zircaloys. A scanning electron microscope was used to observe zirconium hydride precipitated in specimens of Zircaloy-2 and Zircaloy-4. We also examined hardness and corrosion before and after spheroidization in hydrogen. Experimental procedures and results can be summarized as follows. The specimens of low hydrogen concentration (<680 ppm) were hydrided at 420°C for 15 h, then cooled at a rate of <5 °C/min, and finally spheroidized at 520°C, just below the eutectoid temperature, for 20 to 72 h (the exact time required depending on the concentration of hydrogen). Successful spheroidization of zirconium hydride was obtained. The specimens of high hydrogen concentration (680 to 2210 ppm) were cycled near the eutectoid temperature, i.e., 547° C, for six to eight times and then annealed f or 30 to 128 h (the exact time depending on hydrogen concentration); finally, the specimens were slowly cooled at a rate of <5°C/min. It was found that for specimens with a hydrogen concentration ranging from 1000 to 2000 ppm, the heat treatment described above is satisfactory. But for specimens with a hydrogen concentration >2000 ppm, a heat treatment time >128 h at 520°C is required. The corrosion resistance of a spheroidized specimen was better than that of a specimen with platelet hydrides.