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Nuclear Criticality Safety
NCSD provides communication among nuclear criticality safety professionals through the development of standards, the evolution of training methods and materials, the presentation of technical data and procedures, and the creation of specialty publications. In these ways, the division furthers the exchange of technical information on nuclear criticality safety with the ultimate goal of promoting the safe handling of fissionable materials outside reactors.
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International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering (M&C 2025)
April 27–30, 2025
Denver, CO|The Westin Denver Downtown
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Argonne’s METL gears up to test more sodium fast reactor components
Argonne National Laboratory has successfully swapped out an aging cold trap in the sodium test loop called METL (Mechanisms Engineering Test Loop), the Department of Energy announced April 23. The upgrade is the first of its kind in the United States in more than 30 years, according to the DOE, and will help test components and operations for the sodium-cooled fast reactors being developed now.
S. H. Chan, H. H. Tseng
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 71 | Number 2 | August 1979 | Pages 215-227
Technical Note | doi.org/10.13182/NSE79-A20415
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In analyzing radiant energy exchange between fuel and coolant in a reactor, it is necessary to know the reflection, absorption, and emission characteristics of the fuel and its interface with the coolant. Because of the unavailability and great uncertainty of these radiation properties, they are calculated from the electromagnetic theory of optics, and results are presented here. Depending on the contacting medium, six types of surfaces received consideration. They are the interfaces between uranium dioxide and sodium, uranium dioxide and steel, uranium dioxide and a gas, water and a gas, steel and a gas, as well as sodium and a gas. The spectral interface reflectance and the spectral absorptance from one side of the medium to the other side are evaluated for all wavelengths. These spectral properties are further integrated to yield the total hemispherical properties for a black body source over a temperature range from 1200 to 6000 K. Comparisons are made with available experimental data or calculated values, and the agreement is found to be generally good.