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Aerospace Nuclear Science & Technology
Organized to promote the advancement of knowledge in the use of nuclear science and technologies in the aerospace application. Specialized nuclear-based technologies and applications are needed to advance the state-of-the-art in aerospace design, engineering and operations to explore planetary bodies in our solar system and beyond, plus enhance the safety of air travel, especially high speed air travel. Areas of interest will include but are not limited to the creation of nuclear-based power and propulsion systems, multifunctional materials to protect humans and electronic components from atmospheric, space, and nuclear power system radiation, human factor strategies for the safety and reliable operation of nuclear power and propulsion plants by non-specialized personnel and more.
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2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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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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From South Korea to Belgium: Testing a high-density research reactor fuel
The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute has developed a high-density uranium silicide fuel designed to replace high-enriched uranium in research reactors. Recent irradiation tests appear to be successful, KAERI reports, which means the fuel could be commercialized to continue a key global nuclear nonproliferation effort—converting research reactors to run on low-enriched uranium fuel.
Guangwen Bi, Shengyi Si, Chanyun Liu
Nuclear Technology | Volume 183 | Number 3 | September 2013 | Pages 308-320
Technical Paper | Fission Reactors | doi.org/10.13182/NT13-A19420
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This work is focused on core design, spent-fuel characteristics assessment, and fuel cycle analysis for thorium-uranium breeding recycle in a typical pressurized water reactor (PWR), without any major change to the fuel lattice and the core internals but substituting the uranium oxide (UOX) pellet with a thorium-based fuel pellet. Two mixed cores are investigated, one loaded with mixed reactor-grade plutonium-thorium oxide (PuThOX) fuel assemblies and the other with mixed reactor-grade 233U-thorium oxide (U3ThOX) fuel assemblies. The high purity of reactor-grade 233U extracted from burnt PuThOX fuel is used as seeds of U3ThOX for starting thorium-uranium breeding recycle.The core design and analysis indicated that thorium-uranium breeding recycle is technically feasible in current PWRs. In the mixed core with U3ThOX loading, the well-designed U3ThOX assemblies were located on the periphery of the core as a "blanket" region, which remain in core for six cycles and get breeding with 232Th-233U. The feedback parameters and kinetic parameters are dominated by the UOX fuel in the inner core. For the UOX/PuThOX mixed core, the higher plutonium content leads to harder neutron spectrum, smaller reactivity worth of neutron absorbers, and smaller delayed neutron fraction and prompt neutron lifetime, which are similar to the current mixed cores partially loaded with the plutonium-uranium mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel.The fuel cycle analysis has shown that 233U monorecycling with U3ThOX fuel could save 13% of natural uranium resource compared with UOX once-through fuel cycle, slightly more than that of plutonium monorecycling with MOX fuel. If 233U multirecycling with U3ThOX fuel is implemented, more natural uranium resource would be saved.