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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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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A new ANSI/ANS standard for liquid metal fire protection published
ANSI/ANS-54.8-2025, Liquid Metal Fire Protection in LMR Plants, received approval from the American National Standards Institute on September 2 and is now available for purchase.
The 2025 edition is a reinvigoration of the withdrawn ANS-54.8-1988 of the same title. The Advanced Reactor Codes and Standards Collaborative (ARCSC) identified the need for a current version of the standard via an industry survey.
Typical liquid metal reactor designs use liquid sodium as the coolant for both the primary and intermediate heat-transport systems. In addition, liquid sodium and NaK (a mixture of sodium and potassium that is liquid at room temperature) are often used in auxiliary heat-removal systems. Since these liquid metals can react readily with oxygen, water, and other compounds, special precautions must be taken in the design, construction, testing, and maintenance of the sodium/NaK systems to ensure that the potential for leakage is very small.
J. J. Keyes, Jr., A. I. Krakoviak
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 9 | Number 4 | April 1961 | Pages 462-474
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE61-A25910
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An experimental investigation into the effects on Inconel of the application of relatively high-frequency thermal oscillations under conditions such as to generate significant transient stress in the surface fibers is described. Thermal instabilities of this nature may be generated in the operation of certain types of nuclear reactors. Fatigue-type cracking was observed in 214 hr at 1.0 cps for a surface temperature amplitude of ±64°F (17,800 psi maximum elastic surface stress); incipient cracking occurred in 23 hr at 0.4 cps for an amplitude of ±104°F (31,300 psi). Application of ±46°F surface temperature oscillations (12,800 psi) at 1.0 cps for 612 hr produced accelerated intergranular corrosion in a fused salt environment. The results are correlated in terms of the maximum calculated elastic surface stress.
