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Division Spotlight
Nuclear Criticality Safety
NCSD provides communication among nuclear criticality safety professionals through the development of standards, the evolution of training methods and materials, the presentation of technical data and procedures, and the creation of specialty publications. In these ways, the division furthers the exchange of technical information on nuclear criticality safety with the ultimate goal of promoting the safe handling of fissionable materials outside reactors.
Meeting 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
Hinkley Point C gets over $6 billion in financing from Apollo
U.S.-based private capital group Apollo Global has committed £4.5 billion ($6.13 billion) in financing to EDF Energy, primarily to support the U.K.’s Hinkley Point C station. The move addresses funding needs left unmet since China General Nuclear Power Corporation—which originally planned to pay for one-third of the project—exited in 2023 amid U.K. government efforts to reduce Chinese involvement.
William Primak
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 65 | Number 1 | January 1978 | Pages 141-145
Technical Note | doi.org/10.13182/NSE78-A27132
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Several properties of vitreous silica relevant to application as an optical element in a reactor were studied, including density, refractive index, optical path, stress relaxation, and optical absorption. The irradiations were in fields characteristic of the fuel regions of several operating reactors and at temperatures up to 370°C. The radiation-induced changes in optical path are significant, but are much smaller than those in the density and refractive index because the last two are of opposite sign. The thermal coefficient of optical path causes changes of comparable magnitude. Optical absorption is not a serious matter in the upper end of the visible region.