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Division Spotlight
Human Factors, Instrumentation & Controls
Improving task performance, system reliability, system and personnel safety, efficiency, and effectiveness are the division's main objectives. Its major areas of interest include task design, procedures, training, instrument and control layout and placement, stress control, anthropometrics, psychological input, and motivation.
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.
Norbert Eickelpasch, Reinhard W. Seepolt, Johann Müllauer, Werner Spalthoff
Nuclear Technology | Volume 60 | Number 3 | March 1983 | Pages 362-366
Technical Paper | LWR Control Materials—I and II / Fission Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT83-A33123
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The control rods of the KRB-I 250-MW(electric) boiling water reactor contain Vipac B4C powder in Type 304 stainless steel tubes as a neutron-absorbing material Because of an increase in the reactor coolant 3H activity, defective control rods were suspected. The hot cell examination of a highly exposed control rod revealed B4C losses. The mechanism of failure was shown to be B4C swelling and stress corrosion cracking of the absorber tubes, followed by B4C washout. The B4C volume swelling is ΔV(%) = 0.851x + 0.0449x2 [x = 10B decays in 1021(n,α)/cm3]. The tube cracking starts at 30 to 35% and the B4C washout at 50 to 55% local 10B burnup in the tubes.
