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Division Spotlight
Education, Training & Workforce Development
The Education, Training & Workforce Development Division provides communication among the academic, industrial, and governmental communities through the exchange of views and information on matters related to education, training and workforce development in nuclear and radiological science, engineering, and technology. Industry leaders, education and training professionals, and interested students work together through Society-sponsored meetings and publications, to enrich their professional development, to educate the general public, and to advance nuclear and radiological science and engineering.
Meeting Spotlight
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
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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Nuclear Science and Engineering
June 2025
Nuclear Technology
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May 2025
Latest News
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.
Paul C. S. Wu
Nuclear Technology | Volume 39 | Number 1 | June 1978 | Pages 84-94
Nuclear Safety Analysis | Energy Modeling and Forecasting / Material | doi.org/10.13182/NT78-A17010
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The physical and nuclear properties of EU2O3 were reviewed, evaluated, and compared with those of the other potential control materials for breeder reactors. Europia with a 90% theoretical density has approximately the same amount of europium atoms per unit volume as the pure metal. Consequently, the reactivity worth per unit volume of Eu2O3 is similar to that of pure metal. In addition, the reactivity of EU2O3 is superior to tantalum and is comparable to natural B4C. The decay heat of Eu2O3 is much lower than that of tantalum over the range of decay times that is of interest with respect to handling. Irradiation-induced swelling of EU2O3 is lower than that of B4C, and postirradiation examination revealed only ∼1% dimensional changes in the thermal- and/or fast-neutron spectrum (8 × 1025 n/m2). Although surface reaction between EU2O3 and the fast test reactor reference cladding Type 316 stainless steel leads to the formation of a europium silicate, it is expected that Eu2O3 would be compatible with low-silicon Type 316 stainless steel. In addition, the Eu2O3-sodium system was also shown to be compatible under simulated liquid-metal fast breeder reactor conditions without significant change. Consequently, Eu2O3 is an excellent alternate candidate compared to B4C as the neutron absorber for fast breeder reactors.
