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
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Aug 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
September 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
August 2025
Latest News
DOE fast tracks test reactor projects: What to know
The Department of Energy today unveiled 10 companies racing to bring test reactors online by next year to meet Trump's deadline of next Independance Day, leveraging a new DOE pathway that allows reactor authorization outside national labs. As first outlined in one of the four executive orders on nuclear energy released by President Trump on May 23 and in the request for applications for the Reactor Pilot Program released June 18, the companies must use their own money and sites—and DOE authorization—to get reactors operating. What they won’t need is a Nuclear Regulatory Commission license.
O. M. Stansfield
Nuclear Technology | Volume 16 | Number 1 | October 1972 | Pages 197-207
Technical Paper | Reactor Materials Performance / Material | doi.org/10.13182/NT72-A31186
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Boronated graphites containing 22 to 43 wt% boron as B4C and representing current warm-pressing or extrusion technology were irradiated at 650 ± 100°C to fast-neutron fluences up to 7 × 1021 n/cm2 (E > 0.18 MeV). The irradiation caused an increase in thermal expansivity, a decrease in thermal conductivity, and an anisotropic dimensional change related to the preferred orientation of the graphite crystallites in the graphite matrix. Although irradiation-induced B4C swelling has been reported, the dimensional change in boronated graphite is not significantly influenced by that effect. Dimensional change in boronated graphite is controlled by the fast-neutron and 10B fission damage irradiation properties of the graphite-binder matrix. At a constant 10B-isotope concentration, the irradiation-induced dimensional change of the boronated graphite increases with increasing 10B-isotope enrichment of the boron in the B4C addition. This effect, which may result from more severe 10B fission fragment damage in the matrix surrounding 10B-enriched B4C, leads to distortion directly related to the 10B burnup gradient. The use of natural boron in the fabrication of boronated graphite results in dimensional changes independent of the 10B burnup gradient and correlated with fast-neutron fluence under HTGR service conditions.