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Conference Spotlight
2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 8–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
Standards Program
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
Japan gets new U for enrichment as global power and fuel plans grow
President Trump is in Japan today, with a visit with new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on the agenda. Takaichi, who took office just last week as Japan’s first female prime minister, has already spoken in favor of nuclear energy and of accelerating the restart of Japan’s long-shuttered power reactors, as Reuters and others have reported. Much of the uranium to power those reactors will be enriched at Japan’s lone enrichment facility—part of Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd.’s Rokkasho fuel complex—which accepted its first delivery of fresh uranium hexafluoride (UF₆) in 11 years earlier this month.
N. R. Chellew, V. G. Trice
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 9 | Number 1 | January 1961 | Pages 78-81
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE61-A25869
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Melt refining experiments in which irradiated uranium or synthetic EBR-II alloys were melted in oxide crucibles have shown that removal of zirconium as an oxide does not occur at temperatures up to 1400°C. Removal of zirconium by carbon scavenging of the melt was approximately 50% in 5-hr melts at 1400°C; the mechanism and products of reactions which lead to this separation are discussed. Zirconium contamination of uranium-cerium alloys melted in lime-stabilized zirconia crucibles was negligible.