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Going Nuclear: Notes from the officially unofficial book tour
I work in the analytical labs at one of Europe’s oldest and largest nuclear sites: Sellafield, in northwestern England. I spend my days at the fume hood front, pipette in one hand and radiation probe in the other (and dosimeter pinned to my chest, of course). Outside the lab, I have a second job: I moonlight as a writer and public speaker. My new popular science book—Going Nuclear: How the Atom Will Save the World—came out last summer, and it feels like my life has been running at full power ever since.
W. J. O'Donnell, B. F. Langer
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 20 | Number 1 | September 1964 | Pages 1-12
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE64-A19269
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
General methods have recently been developed for low-cycle fatigue design. The required basic strain-controlled data for both unirradiated and irradiated Zircaloy–2, −3, and −4 were obtained for temperatures between 70 F and 600 F. Data include both rolled and base-annealed material, and as-welded material tested in various directions. The “cyclic” stress-strain properties of these materials were also obtained and were found to differ quite significantly from the conventional properties. Using the cyclic properties in a Modified Goodman Diagram, fatigue-failure curves were developed which included the deleterious effect of the maximum possible mean stress that can exist in the material as it is cycled. Limited available test data confirm the validity of this method. Using the resulting curves, one need only consider the cyclic stress loads. The worst possible effects of residual stresses due to welding and other fabrication methods, and mean stresses due to differential thermal expansion are included in the curves. The phenomenon of fuel growth introduces a monotonically increasing strain which accompanies the cyclic strain. The effects of such a gradually accumulating increment of strain were investigated and were found to be adequately covered by the adjustment for maximum mean stress. Design curves were constructed from the mean failure curves by applying approximate factors to cover the effects of size, environment, surface finish and scatter of data. The results of fatigue tests on notched irradiated Zircaloy indicate that this material is somewhat less notch sensitive than 100 000-lb/in.2 tensile strength steel. Unirradiated Zircaloy is even less notch sensitive. However, fatigue tests on notched weld metal indicate considerably greater notch sensitivity.