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Materials Science & Technology
The objectives of MSTD are: promote the advancement of materials science in Nuclear Science Technology; support the multidisciplines which constitute it; encourage research by providing a forum for the presentation, exchange, and documentation of relevant information; promote the interaction and communication among its members; and recognize and reward its members for significant contributions to the field of materials science in nuclear technology.
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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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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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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.
J. T. Mihalczo, E. D. Blakeman, G. E. Ragan, R. C. Kryter, H. Seino, R. C. Robinson
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 107 | Number 1 | January 1991 | Pages 35-57
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE91-A23779
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A series of experiments was performed in slab geometry using a mixed aqueous Pu-U nitrate with 173 and 262 g/ℓ of plutonium and uranium, respectively. Both the thickness of the slab for an ∼71-cm fixed height and the height for a 19.05-cm fixed thickness were varied for this slab, which had a 106.7-cm base length. The plutonium contained 91.1 wt% 239Pu while the depleted uranium contained 0.57 wt% 235U. These measurements using the 252Cf-source-driven neutron noise analysis method are interpreted using modified point kinetics to obtain the subcritical neutron multiplication factors. This paper summarizes the data accumulated in the measurements and their interpretation in this first application of the method to slab geometry. The results and conclusions of these experiments are (a) the capability to measure the subcriticality for a multiplying system of slab geometry by the 252Cf-source-driven noise method to a k as low as 0.70 was demonstrated; (b) the reactivities obtained by independent measurements using break-frequency noise analysis agreed with those obtained from the ratio of spectral densities within the experimental uncertainties; (c) the criteria developed in previous experiments for choosing source-detector-system configurations for which the data can be interpreted using modified point kinetics were also satisfactory for this experiment; (d) measurement times for this geometry were not significantly different from those used in cylindrical geometry and were sufficiently short to allow practical measurements; (e) the applicability of the method and understanding of the theory of the measurement method for plutonium solution systems were demonstrated; and (f) calculated neutron multiplication factors agreed with those from experiments within ∼0.02.