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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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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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Latest News
No impact from Savannah River radioactive wasps
The news is abuzz with recent news stories about four radioactive wasp nests found at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The site has been undergoing cleanup operations since the 1990s related to the production of plutonium and tritium for defense purposes during the Cold War. Cleanup activities are expected to continue into the 2060s.
L. B. Freeman, B. R. Beaudoin, R. A. Frederickson, G. L. Hartfield, H. C. Hecker, S. Milani, W. K. Sarber, W. C. Schick
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 102 | Number 4 | August 1989 | Pages 341-364
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE89-A23647
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The light water breeder reactor (LWBR) operated at the Shippingport Atomic Power Station from 1977 to 1982, serving the electric power grid for the Greater Pittsburgh area. The LWBR was a pressurized water reactor (PWR) with several unique features: It was designed and proved to be a breeder with an end-of-life fissile fuel content ∼1.3% greater than beginning of life; the reactor used the 233U-Th fuel system; and it had a large Doppler coefficient, low reactivity worth of transient xenon, and a significant reactivity effect from transient 233Pa. There were no control rods or soluble poison, and reactivity was controlled by movable fuel. Core operations went extremely well. The design lifetime of 18 000 effective full-power hours was exceeded by 60% by utilizing a gradual reduction in power level. The overall capacity factor was 65%. Physics experiments showed good agreement with predictions of movable fuel reactivity worth, most temperature coefficients, breeding, power distribution, and xenon stability. Unexpected results occurred in measurements of flow coefficient of reactivity, zero power temperature coefficients early in life, and bred fissile fuel distribution. The LWBR technology has demonstrated that water-cooled breeder reactors can operate in existing water power plants much like conventional PWRs.