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Division Spotlight
Isotopes & Radiation
Members are devoted to applying nuclear science and engineering technologies involving isotopes, radiation applications, and associated equipment in scientific research, development, and industrial processes. Their interests lie primarily in education, industrial uses, biology, medicine, and health physics. Division committees include Analytical Applications of Isotopes and Radiation, Biology and Medicine, Radiation Applications, Radiation Sources and Detection, and Thermal Power Sources.
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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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.
M. Coquerelle, C. T. Walker
Nuclear Technology | Volume 48 | Number 1 | April 1980 | Pages 43-53
Technical Paper | Fuel | doi.org/10.13182/NT80-A32446
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Mixed carbide, carbonitride, and nitride fuels have been irradiated in DFR and Rapsodie to a maximum burnup of 7.8 at.% at a maximum linear power of 135 kW·m−1. At low burnup, xenon release from helium-bonded fuels was found to be dependent on the chemical composition of the fuel Release was greatest from carbide (75%) and least from nitride fuels (35%). At medium burnup, improved gap conductance led to a fall in the fuel centerline temperature and consequently a decrease in gas release. For nitride and carbonitride fuels, over 75% of the retained fission gas was contained in bubbles (<1 µm in diameter) and in the fuel matrix. For all three fuels, xenon release from the outer unrestructured region of the fuel was <15%, whereas release from the central porous region was 50% or more. In the restructured region, gas was released to the plenum by way of interconnected pores. Gas in pores contained proportionally more krypton than the bonded gas, and consequently, it is proposed that atomic diffusion is the principal mechanism of gas transport within the fuel.