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2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
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OECD NEA meeting focuses on irradiation experiments
Members of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency’s Second Framework for Irradiation Experiments (FIDES-II) joint undertaking gathered from September 29 to October 3 in Ketchum, Idaho, for the technical advisory group and governing board meetings hosted by Idaho National Laboratory. The FIDES-II Framework aims to ensure and foster competences in experimental nuclear fuel and structural materials in-reactor experiments through a diverse set of Joint Experimental Programs (JEEPs).
Douglas R. Smith, Robert W. Albrecht
Nuclear Technology | Volume 79 | Number 1 | October 1987 | Pages 35-50
Technical Paper | Fission Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT87-A16003
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A recent development in passive safety devices for advanced liquid-metal reactors is the installation of manometerlike core assemblies called gas enhancement modules (GEMs). Knowledge of the liquid sodium level within the GEMs is required to monitor GEM operation. A microwave, resonant cavity level measurement technique has been laboratory tested on a scale model of a GEM assembly in a nonsodium environment. The theory behind this method is discussed, and the experimental results are shown to compare well with those predicted by theoretical calculation. The resonant cavity level detector tracked extremely well over the desired 0.1524- to 1.1176-m range of operation and provided accurate, reproducible results well within the desired ±25.4-mm actual level. When tested for vibrational stability, level errors of only 0.254 mm were observed. The effects of material differences between the experimental GEM (copper) and the actual GEM (Type 304 stainless steel) are calculated. The actual GEM will have poorer resolution but still be within ±25.4-mm actual level. Temperature effects are also calculated and produce a 10.5 kHz/°C shift in resonant frequency, which could cause the indicated level to exceed the ±25.4 mm allowed if large (∼149°C) temperature changes occur.