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Division Spotlight
Fuel Cycle & Waste Management
Devoted to all aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle including waste management, worldwide. Division specific areas of interest and involvement include uranium conversion and enrichment; fuel fabrication, management (in-core and ex-core) and recycle; transportation; safeguards; high-level, low-level and mixed waste management and disposal; public policy and program management; decontamination and decommissioning environmental restoration; and excess weapons materials disposition.
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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Latest News
Smarter waste strategies: Helping deliver on the promise of advanced nuclear
At COP28, held in Dubai in 2023, a clear consensus emerged: Nuclear energy must be a cornerstone of the global clean energy transition. With electricity demand projected to soar as we decarbonize not just power but also industry, transport, and heat, the case for new nuclear is compelling. More than 20 countries committed to tripling global nuclear capacity by 2050. In the United States alone, the Department of Energy forecasts that the country’s current nuclear capacity could more than triple, adding 200 GW of new nuclear to the existing 95 GW by mid-century.
D. L. Smith
Nuclear Technology | Volume 20 | Number 3 | December 1973 | Pages 190-199
Technical Paper | Fuel | doi.org/10.13182/NT73-A31357
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The oxygen concentration of sodium in equilibrium with uranium-25% plutonium oxide fuel has been measured at temperatures of 650 to 900°C for fuels with oxygen-to-metal ratios of 1.90, 1.94, and 1.97. The oxygen concentration in sodium at the three-phase Na-MO2-x-Na3MO4 (M = uranium plus plutonium) equilibrium has also been measured for the same temperature range. This three-phase equilibrium was established by reacting mixed-oxide fuel with sodium to which Na2O had been added. The oxygen concentrations in sodium were determined by the vanadium-wire equilibration method. The oxygen concentration in sodium at the three-phase equilibrium varied from ∼0.1 to 0.4 ppm in the temperature range investigated. Oxygen concentrations in EBR-II primary sodium, which have been measured by the same method, vary from 0.4 to 0.9 ppm oxygen depending on the cold-trap operation. These values indicate that the sodium -fuel reaction product, i.e., Na3MO4, is stable in sodium at the temperatures (<1000°C) and oxygen levels present in EBR -II.
