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Division Spotlight
Education, Training & Workforce Development
The Education, Training & Workforce Development Division provides communication among the academic, industrial, and governmental communities through the exchange of views and information on matters related to education, training and workforce development in nuclear and radiological science, engineering, and technology. Industry leaders, education and training professionals, and interested students work together through Society-sponsored meetings and publications, to enrich their professional development, to educate the general public, and to advance nuclear and radiological science and engineering.
Meeting Spotlight
2025 ANS Annual Conference
June 15–18, 2025
Chicago, IL|Chicago Marriott Downtown
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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NRC v. Texas: Supreme Court weighs challenge to NRC authority in spent fuel storage case
The State of Texas has not one but two ongoing federal court challenges to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that could, if successful, turn decades of NRC regulations, precedent, and case law on its head.
M. D. Freshley
Nuclear Technology | Volume 18 | Number 2 | May 1973 | Pages 141-170
Technical Paper | A Review of Plutonium Utilization in Thermal Reactors / Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT73-A31284
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Irradiation performance data available to date indicate that the behavior of Zircaloy-clad thermal reactor mixed-oxide fuels is entirely satisfactory. There do not appear to be any inherent performance limitations created by the addition of small amounts of PuO2 to UO2. The wide range of test conditions include peak linear heat ratings sufficient to cause fuel melting and peak burnups to over 50 000 MWd/MTM. Because small PuO2 additions to UO2 have an insignificant effect on those fuel properties which could affect irradiation behavior, thermal reactor mixed-oxide fuel performs similarly and equally as well as UO2-only fuel. The evidence indicates that the PuO2-rich regions that persist in nonrestructured mechanically mixed, mixed-oxide fuel have an insignificant effect on performance. The extent of plutonium migration which can occur during irradiation also has an insignificant effect on mixed-oxide fuel behavior. Satisfactory defect behavior of Zircaloy-clad UO2-PuO2 fuel under normal operating conditions is indicated. Transient behavior can be affected by the presence of abnormally large PuO2 particles in mixed-oxide fuel; however, the effect appears to be of little practical significance. PuO2 additions to UO2 do introduce special considerations related to fuel design and fabrication. However, the successful development of a sound base technology assures the timely utilization of plutonium in water-cooled power reactors on a reload basis beginning in the mid-1970s.
