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2026 Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
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NEUP honors young ANS members with R&D awards
Each year, the Department of Energy’s Nuclear Energy University Program (NEUP) recognizes graduate and undergraduate students for their innovative nuclear energy research. The winners of the Innovations in Nuclear Energy Research and Development Student Competition (INSC) receive honoraria along with travel and conference opportunities, including the chance to present their publications at the annual American Nuclear Society Winter Conference & Expo.
R. C. Briant, Alvin M. Weinberg
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 2 | Number 6 | November 1957 | Pages 797-803
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE57-A35494
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Molten fluorides of uranium, thorium, plutonium, and other elements potentially have wide applicability as fuels for power reactors. Because of their low vapor pressure they can be used in very high-temperature but low-pressure liquid-fuel reactors. In addition, they possess great chemical flexibility—the molten-salt principle can be applied to burners, thorium-uranium thermal breeders, plutonium-uranium converters, and possibly even to fast plutonium breeders. Because of the very high thermal efficiency obtainable in reactors using molten salt fuel, the fuel cost in a simple burner using enriched U235 is of the order of 2–3 mills/kwhr. A high-temperature reactor using molten uranium salts (Aircraft Reactor Experiment) was operated for a short time at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The reactor was of the circulating-fuel type, with a BeO moderator. The maximum outlet temperature achieved was greater than 1500°F. It is believed that with further development the ARE could be a prototype for an economical uranium burner.