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Aerospace Nuclear Science & Technology
Organized to promote the advancement of knowledge in the use of nuclear science and technologies in the aerospace application. Specialized nuclear-based technologies and applications are needed to advance the state-of-the-art in aerospace design, engineering and operations to explore planetary bodies in our solar system and beyond, plus enhance the safety of air travel, especially high speed air travel. Areas of interest will include but are not limited to the creation of nuclear-based power and propulsion systems, multifunctional materials to protect humans and electronic components from atmospheric, space, and nuclear power system radiation, human factor strategies for the safety and reliable operation of nuclear power and propulsion plants by non-specialized personnel and more.
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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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.
G. Bandyopadhyay, J. A. Buzzell
Nuclear Technology | Volume 47 | Number 1 | January 1980 | Pages 91-109
Technical Paper | Reactor Siting | doi.org/10.13182/NT80-A32414
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Direct electrical heating (DEH) experiments have been performed to study fuel and fission gas behavior during transients with thermal conditions similar to those predicted for flow-coastdown and sodium voiding phases of a reference reactor hypothetical loss-of-flow accident case. Macroscopic fuel response, such as gross fuel swelling and fuel dispersal in DEH fuel pellet stacks, was monitored during the transients. It was noted that in the presence of a mild restraint (e.g., due to quartz “cladding”), fuel melting always occurred prior to any detectable gross fuel motion in the stack. The fuel response at failure was strongly dependent on the thermal history of the simulated flow-coastdown phase and the heating rates during the subsequent phase of the transient experiments. In the presence of a mild restraint, the thermal history before fuel melting occurred in the stack strongly influenced the fuel behavior. The thermal history before melting determines the nature and morphology of fission gas bubbles at the time of melting. These, in turn, strongly influence the fuel behavior after molten fuel appears. Micro structural analysis of the fuel before and after transients provided additional data that indicate that the interaction between fission gas and molten fuel that may lead to frothing of molten fuel due to expansion of fission gas can play a major role in swelling of the fuel stacks and in fuel behavior at failure.
