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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.
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International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering (M&C 2025)
April 27–30, 2025
Denver, CO|The Westin Denver Downtown
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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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Argonne’s METL gears up to test more sodium fast reactor components
Argonne National Laboratory has successfully swapped out an aging cold trap in the sodium test loop called METL (Mechanisms Engineering Test Loop), the Department of Energy announced April 23. The upgrade is the first of its kind in the United States in more than 30 years, according to the DOE, and will help test components and operations for the sodium-cooled fast reactors being developed now.
Theodore H. Bauer, Arthur E. Wright, William R. Robinson, John W. Holland, Edgar A. Rhodes
Nuclear Technology | Volume 92 | Number 3 | December 1990 | Pages 325-352
Technical Paper | Nuclear Fuel Cycle | doi.org/10.13182/NT92-325
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Results and analyses of margin to cladding failure and prefailure axial expansion of metallic fuel are reported for Transient Reactor Test Facility in-pile transient overpower tests M2 through M7. These include the first such tests on binary and ternary alloy fuel of the Integral Fast Reactor concept and fuel burnups to 10 at. %. The fuel was tested at full coolant flow and subjected to an exponential power rise on an 8-s period until either incipient or actual cladding failure was achieved. Objectives, designs, and methods are described with emphasis on developments unique to metal fuel safety testing. Test results include the following: (a) temperature, flow, and pressure data; (b) fuel motion diagnostic data from the fast neutron hodoscope; and (c) test remains described by both destructive and nondestructive posttest examination. The resulting M-series data base for cladding failure threshold and prefailure fuel expansion is presented. The nature of the observed cladding failure and resultant fuel dispersals is described. Simple models of cladding failures and prefailure axial expansions are presented and compared with experimental results.