ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
Latest Magazine Issues
Jun 2026
Jan 2026
2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
August 2026
Nuclear Technology
July 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Launching into tomorrow: NRIC guides new era of research and deployment
In June 2025, the Department of Energy announced the Reactor Pilot Program, an authorization pathway that allowed reactor developers to partner with the DOE to get first-of-a-kind (FOAK) reactors built and tested. Soon after, the DOE rolled out a complementary Fuel Line Pilot Program, which aimed to fast-track fuel projects. In all, 20 projects were accepted into the new programs.
A. K. Sengupta, J. Banerjee, T. Jarvis, T. R. G. Kutty, K. Ravi, S. Majumdar
Nuclear Technology | Volume 142 | Number 3 | June 2003 | Pages 260-269
Technical Paper | Fuel Cycle and Management | doi.org/10.13182/NT03-A3388
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Hyperstoichiometric uranium-plutonium mixed carbide fuel (U0.3Pu0.7)C1+x has been the driver fuel for the sodium-cooled Fast Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR) at Kalpakkam, India. The existing core is being slowly expanded by substituting the earlier fuel with hyperstoichiometric (U0.45Pu0.55)C1+x fuel for operation of the reactor at full power [40 MW(thermal)] and at higher linear heat rating of the fuel. To evaluate the fuel in terms of its in-reactor performance, some of the important out-of-pile thermophysical and thermomechanical property data like the coefficient of thermal expansion, thermal diffusivity, thermal conductivity, and hot hardness have been generated as a function of temperature. The out-of-pile chemical compatibility of the fuel with Type 316 stainless steel (20% cold-worked) cladding material has also been established experimentally. From the data generated in these measurements, it has been concluded that with this fuel the reactor could be operated at full power with a fuel linear heat rating of 400 W/cm. Out-of-pile compatibility experiments indicate that carburization of the clad by carbon transfer from the fuel would not be severe to cause any breach of clad during the residence time of the fuel in the reactor.