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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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Latest News
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The 2025 edition is a reinvigoration of the withdrawn ANS-54.8-1988 of the same title.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. W. ANDERSON, W. D. MCNEESE, C. C. BURWELL, J. A. LEARY
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 11 | Number 4 | December 1961 | Pages 434-440
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE61-A26045
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Tantalum-sheathed plutonium fuel pins have been prepared for the first core loading of the Los Alamos Molten Plutonium Reactor Experiment-I. Twenty-five kilograms of plutonium–10 atomic per cent iron alloy were prepared by co-reduction and by co-melting methods. After casting the alloy into rods, each rod was machined and finished to a 0.357 in. diam piece weighing 175 gm. The finished alloy rod was finally placed in a tantalum sheath which was then sealed by fusion welding to a tantalum cap. Procedures and equipment used for alloying, casting, machining, welding, and inspection are described and illustrated by photograph. Methods used to prepare rods of other low melting plutonium alloys are also discussed.