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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.
P. Wydler, W. Heer, P. Stiller, H. U. Wenger
Nuclear Technology | Volume 49 | Number 1 | June 1980 | Pages 115-120
Technical Paper | Nuclear Power Reactor Safety / Fuel Cycle | doi.org/10.13182/NT80-A32512
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In view of the considerable amount of 237Np produced as a by-product in nuclear power reactors, possible utilization of this nuclide in the nuclear fuel cycle has been studied. In particular, the performance of a gas-cooled fast breeder reactor as a neptunium burner was assessed. In a neptunium burner, a major fraction of the 237Np is converted to 238Pu. The 238Pu could be discharged and used to fabricate denatured plutonium fuel elements for light water reactors (LWRs), which are considered to be more proliferation-resistant than ordinary plutonium fuel elements. A strategy was developed and mass flows were computed for a denatured plutonium LWR strategy using uranium, plutonium, and neptunium recycling.
