ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
Latest Magazine Issues
Jul 2026
Jan 2026
2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
August 2026
Nuclear Technology
July 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
The deadline arrives: Checking in on the Reactor Pilot Program
On May 23, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14301, “Reforming Nuclear Reactor Testing at the DOE,” which instructed the Department of Energy to create a Reactor Pilot Program (RPP)—a new system in which companies could pursue DOE authorization to build and test their first-of-a-kind nuclear technologies. EO 14301 set an ambitious goal for that program: three reactors achieving criticality by July 4, 2026.
Myron B. Reynolds
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 20 | Number 4 | December 1964 | Pages 386-391
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE64-A20981
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A differential-type pressure transducer suitable for use in a fast-neutron environment at elevated temperatures has been developed. The sensitivity of this device is approximately 0.25 lb/in.2 with the ability to withstand an unbalance pressure of over 1500 lb/in.2 from either direction. A number of stainless-steel-clad, UO2-filled fuel rods equipped with these transducers have been irradiated in the Vallecitos Boiling Water Reactor to exposures up to roughly 4000 MWd/t peak. These experiments have shown that fission-gas release is negligible from UO2 operated below the recrystallization temperature. For operation at higher temperatures, observed fission-gas pressures were in qualitative agreement with measured void volume and quantity of free gas found in post-irradiation examination. The decrease in void volume during operation has been calculated for a fuel rod and the calculated value used to estimate a mean fuel temperature.