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Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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New coolants, new fuels: A new generation of university reactors
Here’s an easy way to make aging U.S. power reactors look relatively youthful: Compare them (average age: 43) with the nation’s university research reactors. The 25 operating today have been licensed for an average of about 58 years.
H. Kwast
Nuclear Technology | Volume 46 | Number 2 | December 1979 | Pages 234-240
Technical Paper | Nuclear Power Reactor Safety (Presented at the ENS/ANS International Meeting, Brussels, Belgium, October 16–19, 1978) / Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT79-A32322
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Capsule irradiations have been performed on single fast reactor fuel pins in a sodium environment under simulated loss-of-coolant-flow conditions. The main objectives were to determine the thresholds, modes, and mechanisms of fuel pin failures. The parameters were canning temperature and internal pin pressure. The loss-of-coolant-flow condition was simulated by adjusting midwall canning temperatures of ∼850 and ∼1000°C. The results indicated that creep rupture is the predominant failure mechanism at canning temperatures of 1000°C and gas pressures of above 40 bars. The failure mechanism of fuel pins tested at ∼850°C and gas pressures lower than 60 bars is probably cladding strain due to differential expansion of fuel and canning.