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Nuclear Criticality Safety
NCSD provides communication among nuclear criticality safety professionals through the development of standards, the evolution of training methods and materials, the presentation of technical data and procedures, and the creation of specialty publications. In these ways, the division furthers the exchange of technical information on nuclear criticality safety with the ultimate goal of promoting the safe handling of fissionable materials outside reactors.
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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.
Bryce L. Shriver, Thomas G. Hook
Nuclear Technology | Volume 61 | Number 1 | April 1983 | Pages 113-117
Technical Paper | Material | doi.org/10.13182/NT83-A33148
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The operation of some early-generation light water reactors may be limited by the irradiation-induced embrittlement of their reactor vessels. Additional nondestructive methods of measuring the actual embrittlement are desirable to support limits placed on the operation of these vessels. Previous studies have indicated that the increase in microhardness with irradiation may correlate with shifts in the ductile-to-brittle transition temperature. However, the previous research did not consider variations in the test temperature to determine whether it affects the correlation with transition temperature or whether microhardness may correlate with the fracture energy outside the transition region. The Vickers microhardness measurements were made at eight temperatures from -195 to 90°C (-320 to 200°F) by holding the samples in a liquid bath during the application of the test load. Both unirradiated and irradiated samples were evaluated for the three A533-B steels. These tests indicate that the Vickers hardness may correlate with the strength and ductility of unirradiated steels. In addition, both the change in microhardness and the shift in test temperature at a constant hardness may correlate with the shift in transition temperature caused by irradiation.