ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
Latest Magazine Issues
Jul 2026
Jan 2026
2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
August 2026
Nuclear Technology
July 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
The deadline arrives: Checking in on the Reactor Pilot Program
On May 23, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14301, “Reforming Nuclear Reactor Testing at the DOE,” which instructed the Department of Energy to create a Reactor Pilot Program (RPP)—a new system in which companies could pursue DOE authorization to build and test their first-of-a-kind nuclear technologies. EO 14301 set an ambitious goal for that program: three reactors achieving criticality by July 4, 2026.
R. M. Berman
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 16 | Number 3 | July 1963 | Pages 315-328
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE63-A26534
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Four irradiated UO2 samples were ground to break them along grain boundaries, then dissolved in a series of successive leaches with 3N HNO3. The successive acid extractions were then analyzed for Cs138, Ce144, Zr95, Sr90, and Eu155, as well as total uranium. Very considerable variation in the specific activities of the fission fragments was found between one acid extraction and another of the same sample. The fission products were concentrated in the first and last portions of the material to dissolve. In one sample, which underwent irradiation for a very short time, the increase in concentration in the last portion to dissolve was not observed. It is speculated, on this and other evidence, that fission fragments do not remain in solid solution in uranium dioxide, but instead migrate to grain boundaries and other lattice defect sites.