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Division Spotlight
Decommissioning & Environmental Sciences
The mission of the Decommissioning and Environmental Sciences (DES) Division is to promote the development and use of those skills and technologies associated with the use of nuclear energy and the optimal management and stewardship of the environment, sustainable development, decommissioning, remediation, reutilization, and long-term surveillance and maintenance of nuclear-related installations, and sites. The target audience for this effort is the membership of the Division, the Society, and the public at large.
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.
W. Ullrich, W. Frisch
Nuclear Technology | Volume 41 | Number 2 | December 1978 | Pages 185-194
Technical Paper | Extraction of Energy From Nuclear Fuels Without Reprocessing to Separate Plutonium / Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT78-A32104
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A detailed study of anticipated transients without scram (ATWS) has been carried out in the Federal Republic of Germany based on a boiling water reactor (BWR) and a pressurized water reactor (PWR) reference plant. The study includes transient calculations as well as reliability analyses of the entire scram system (sensors, logic, actuating system). In addition, the influence of other safety related systems (pressure relief system, pump control system in a BWR) has been evaluated. During all ATWS, system pressure does not exceed 110% of design pressure. Only for short periods (several seconds) and only in small areas of the core might film boiling occur. The availability of the scram systems for both a BWR and a PWR is on the order of 10−5 per demand. From these results it is concluded that no independent second scram system is necessary. However, the detailed analysis has given an indication of where hardware measures could be taken to mitigate the transients (e.g., increase of valve capacity) or further improve the availability of the scram system.
