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Division Spotlight
Nuclear Installations Safety
Devoted specifically to the safety of nuclear installations and the health and safety of the public, this division seeks a better understanding of the role of safety in the design, construction and operation of nuclear installation facilities. The division also promotes engineering and scientific technology advancement associated with the safety of such facilities.
Meeting Spotlight
International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering (M&C 2025)
April 27–30, 2025
Denver, CO|The Westin Denver 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
Argonne’s METL gears up to test more sodium fast reactor components
Argonne National Laboratory has successfully swapped out an aging cold trap in the sodium test loop called METL (Mechanisms Engineering Test Loop), the Department of Energy announced April 23. The upgrade is the first of its kind in the United States in more than 30 years, according to the DOE, and will help test components and operations for the sodium-cooled fast reactors being developed now.
J. T. Holmes, C. R. F. Smith, M. M. Osterhout, W. H. Olson
Nuclear Technology | Volume 32 | Number 3 | March 1977 | Pages 304-314
Technical Paper | Material | doi.org/10.13182/NT77-A31754
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Purity control of the primary and secondary scdium systems at the Experimental Breeder Reactor II (EBR-II) is by essentially continuous cold trapping of small side streams of the total sodium inventories. The EBR-II cold traps are effective for the control of the major chemical impurities, i.e., oxygen and hydrogen (and also tritium). The trapping effectiveness is higher for hydrogen (NaH) than for oxygen (Na2O). The trap on the primary sodium system is more effective than the secondary cold trap because of higher sodium velocities and, probably, longer residence times in the crystallization zone of the primary trap. Radioisotopes such as 131I and 137Cs are not effectively trapped. New control methods may be required for these and other radioisotopes to allow the continued use of direct maintenance procedures for various plant systems.