ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
Latest Magazine Issues
Feb 2026
Jul 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
March 2026
Nuclear Technology
February 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
January 2026
Latest News
CLEAN SMART bill reintroduced in Senate
Senators Ben Ray Luján (D., N.M.) and Tim Scott (R., S.C.) have reintroduced legislation aimed at leveraging the best available science and technology at U.S. national laboratories to support the cleanup of legacy nuclear waste.
The Combining Laboratory Expertise to Accelerate Novel Solutions for Minimizing Accumulated Radioactive Toxins (CLEAN SMART) Act, introduced on February 11, would authorize up to $58 million annually to develop, demonstrate, and deploy innovative technologies, targeting reduced costs and safer, faster remediation of sites from the Manhattan Project and Cold War.
Robert J. Teitel, John B. Brown
Nuclear Technology | Volume 1 | Number 1 | February 1965 | Pages 13-24
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NT65-A20459
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Liquid Metal Breeder (LIMB) reactor is an internally-cooled fluid fuel reactor based upon a Th232-U233 thermal breeder cycle. It employs a molten lead coolant, a uranium-bismuth solution fuel, a thorium bismuthide dispersion in lead-bismuth blanket fluid and a graphite moderator. Heat from the fuel is transferred through a graphite fuel element to the coolant which transports the heat to an external boiler and pump. This arrangement overcomes the major disadvantages found in previous “externally-cooled” liquid-metal-fuel reactors. Equilibrium concentrations of uranium isotopes heavier than U233 and other reasonable assumptions were derived from existing information and then used to develop a broad survey of LIMB reactor sizes. Two sizes, 200 and 1000 MW(th), were chosen for more detailed evaluation. The 200 MW(th) has a potential breeding ratio of 1.08 and an 8 year doubling time. The 1000 MW(th) reactor has a breeding ratio of 1.05 and a 12 year doubling time. Using the most pessimistic estimates on processing could reduce the breeding ratio, while improvements in design and the utilization of low-cross-section coolants can counteract these losses. LIMB reactor technology can lead to an efficient breeder, even in large power sources, and warrants further engineering evaluations.