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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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A new ANSI/ANS standard for liquid metal fire protection published
ANSI/ANS-54.8-2025, Liquid Metal Fire Protection in LMR Plants, received approval from the American National Standards Institute on September 2 and is now available for purchase.
The 2025 edition is a reinvigoration of the withdrawn ANS-54.8-1988 of the same title. The Advanced Reactor Codes and Standards Collaborative (ARCSC) identified the need for a current version of the standard via an industry survey.
Typical liquid metal reactor designs use liquid sodium as the coolant for both the primary and intermediate heat-transport systems. In addition, liquid sodium and NaK (a mixture of sodium and potassium that is liquid at room temperature) are often used in auxiliary heat-removal systems. Since these liquid metals can react readily with oxygen, water, and other compounds, special precautions must be taken in the design, construction, testing, and maintenance of the sodium/NaK systems to ensure that the potential for leakage is very small.
G. F. Carpenter, N. R. Knopf, E. S. Byron
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 19 | Number 1 | May 1964 | Pages 18-38
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE64-A19786
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The effects of neutron irradiation, post-irradiation annealing and re-irradiation on the Charpy V-notch impact transition temperature of pressure-vessel steels were investigated. Specimens representing several heats of pressure-vessel steels were irradiated at elevated temperatures to fast (> 1 MeV) neutron exposures up to 2 × 1020 nvt. The general observation was that irradiation caused an increase in the transition temperature; however, it was discovered that specimens representing various heats of a given material composition could show a vastly different increase in transition temperature due to irradiation. These results have led to the arbitrary classification of these steels as “sensitive” or “insensitive” heats. Possible correlation of heat to heat sensitivity with microstructure is discussed. Post-irradiation annealing in the temperature range of 650–800 F was found to reduce the effects of irradiation on the transition temperature significantly. However, subsequent re-irradiation of specimens that were post-irradiation annealed at 650 F increased the transition temperature to a level that could not be distinguished from that of specimens that were not annealed prior to re-irradiation. Re-irradiation studies were not conducted on specimens that were post-irradiation annealed at the higher temperatures. No explanation of the re-irradiation behavior after annealing is available.