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 Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
Latest Magazine Issues
Jun 2026
Jan 2026
2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
August 2026
Nuclear Technology
July 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Launching into tomorrow: NRIC guides new era of research and deployment
In June 2025, the Department of Energy announced the Reactor Pilot Program, an authorization pathway that allowed reactor developers to partner with the DOE to get first-of-a-kind (FOAK) reactors built and tested. Soon after, the DOE rolled out a complementary Fuel Line Pilot Program, which aimed to fast-track fuel projects. In all, 20 projects were accepted into the new programs.
Hans K. Richards
Nuclear Technology | Volume 10 | Number 1 | January 1971 | Pages 54-61
Technical Paper and Note | Fuel | doi.org/10.13182/NT71-A30947
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Data are reported from experiments performed to measure thermal expansion of uranium carbide up to the meltin, point, the expansion accompanying the transition from solid to liquid, and thermal expansion in the liquid phase. The thermal expansion of the tantalum carbide crucibles, used to hold the uranium carbide specimens, was also measured. Experiments were performed using a high-temperature, helium-atmosphere, tungsten filament furnace. Compatibility tests showed that tungsten-graphite and tungsten-tantalum carbide pairs fused together at ∼2400°C; tantalum carbide and graphite remained compatible to 2800°C over the time scale necessary for the expansion measurements. Changes in the length of each expansion sample were measured by detecting electrical contact between the sample and a graphite rod. For measurements in which the uranium carbide was molten, a tantalum carbide disk was placed at the end of the graphite rod to prevent attack of the sensing rod by the molten uranium carbide. Melting point of the uranium carbide samples was 2550°C. The average uranium carbide linear thermal expansion from room temperature to the melting point is 17 × 10−1/°C. Volume expansion upon melting of uranium carbide is 11.4%. A provisional linear thermal expansion of 35.2 × 10−1/°C was measured for molten uranium carbide thermal expansion between 2650 and 2740°C.