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Division Spotlight
Operations & Power
Members focus on the dissemination of knowledge and information in the area of power reactors with particular application to the production of electric power and process heat. The division sponsors meetings on the coverage of applied nuclear science and engineering as related to power plants, non-power reactors, and other nuclear facilities. It encourages and assists with the dissemination of knowledge pertinent to the safe and efficient operation of nuclear facilities through professional staff development, information exchange, and supporting the generation of viable solutions to current issues.
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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May 2025
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.
Kousaku Fukuda, Ekkehard Groos, John Rau
Nuclear Technology | Volume 69 | Number 3 | June 1985 | Pages 368-379
Technical Paper | Nuclear Fuel | doi.org/10.13182/NT85-A33618
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Diffusion behavior of some metallic fission products in high-temperature reactor fuel elements, which had been irradiated in an in-pile gas loop (Saphir) installed in the Pégase reactor (France), was studied. Diffusion coefficients of cesium and silver in hightemperature isotropic pyrolytic carbon and graphite matrix under in-pile conditions were obtained by analyzing the concentration profiles of the fission products in the fuel elements, which had been measured by postirradiation examination. Although ruthenium profiles were measured, analysis of the diffusion coefficients could not be carried out because of the virtually flat distributions. By comparing the concentrations of the cesium isotopes in the fuel-free zone of the elements, it was found that 134Cs behaved anomalously in the graphite matrix, which was, probably, caused by activation of an undetectable amount of 133Cs impurity involved in the matrix. For the extremely high concentration of these fission products, which had been observed near the surface of the element, two causes, the uranium contamination concentrating there and the trapping effect in the defects introduced by fission of the locally concentrated uranium, were considered, although these high concentrations of the fission products were neglected in the analysis. Furthermore, transport behavior of the fission products through the gas gap from the fuel element to the graphite tube containing the elements was studied by measuring the concentration profiles in the tube. It was concluded that ruthenium transport occurred by direct fission recoil from the surface uranium contamination, whereas that of cesium, by desorption from the surface.