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Conference Spotlight
2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
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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Latest News
Shifting the paradigm of supply chain
Chad Wolf
When I began my nuclear career, I was coached up in the nuclear energy culture of the day to “run silent, run deep,” a mindset rooted in the U.S. Navy’s submarine philosophy. That was the norm—until Fukushima.
The nuclear renaissance that many had envisioned hit a wall. The focus shifted from expansion to survival. Many utility communications efforts pivoted from silence to broadcast, showcasing nuclear energy’s elegance and reliability. Nevertheless, despite being clean baseload 24/7 power that delivered a 90 percent capacity factor or higher, nuclear energy was painted as risky and expensive (alongside energy policies and incentives that favored renewables).
Economics became a driving force threatening to shutter nuclear power. The Delivering the Nuclear Promise initiative launched in 2015 challenged the industry to sustain high performance yet cut costs by up to 30 percent.
Knox M. Broom, Jr., Carleton D. Bingham, Thomas B. Crockett, Nancy M. Trahey
Nuclear Technology | Volume 2 | Number 6 | December 1966 | Pages 519-523
Technical Paper and Note | doi.org/10.13182/NT66-A27549
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An experimental program involving radiochemical and spectrochemical analysis of short-cooled samples of SNAP-8 Experimental Reactor (S8ER) primary coolant is described. Evidence for the presence of corrosion products, fission products, and coolant activation products was sought. Gamma-ray spectrometric and dc-arc emission spectrographic techniques and the methods for determining a sensitivity for detection are described. Experimental data revealed essentially no detectable corrosion-product activities in the NaK. Fission product 137Cs was clearly observed. Fission products other than 137Cs, 131I, 132Te, 132I, and 125Sb were not observed using spectrum stripping techniques. Sources of other observed radio-nuclides are proposed. Corrosion-product and fission-product activities were observed on primary cold trap and piping surfaces.
