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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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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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New coolants, new fuels: A new generation of university reactors
Here’s an easy way to make aging U.S. power reactors look relatively youthful: Compare them (average age: 43) with the nation’s university research reactors. The 25 operating today have been licensed for an average of about 58 years.
Herbert Reutler, Günter H. Lohnert
Nuclear Technology | Volume 62 | Number 1 | July 1983 | Pages 22-30
Technical Paper | Fission Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT83-A33228
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Nearly all problems encountered in large High-temperature reactor power plants with respect to design and safety are related to the mere physical size of a larger reactor core. Our analyses show that it is feasible to subdivide a larger reactor core into modular units, analogous to the common practice of using several smaller units instead of one large unit. In connecting several modular reactor units in series,a larger power output can be obtained by merely using simple technical designs,in addition to utilizing the favorable safety characteristics of small pebble-bed cores.It can be shown that for these cores such classical safety devices as shutdown systems and decay heat removal systems lose their dominance in respect to risk evaluations.