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Division Spotlight
Materials Science & Technology
The objectives of MSTD are: promote the advancement of materials science in Nuclear Science Technology; support the multidisciplines which constitute it; encourage research by providing a forum for the presentation, exchange, and documentation of relevant information; promote the interaction and communication among its members; and recognize and reward its members for significant contributions to the field of materials science in nuclear technology.
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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Industry Update—May 2025
Here is a recap of industry happenings from the recent past:
TerraPower’s Natrium reactor advances on several fronts
TerraPower has continued making aggressive progress in several areas for its under-construction Natrium Reactor Demonstration Project since the beginning of the year. Natrium is an advanced 345-MWe reactor that has liquid sodium as a coolant, improved fuel utilization, enhanced safety features, and an integrated energy storage system, allowing for a brief power output boost to 500-MWe if needed for grid resiliency. The company broke ground for its first Natrium plant in 2024 near a retiring coal plant in Kemmerer, Wyo.
W. J. Mills
Nuclear Technology | Volume 82 | Number 3 | September 1988 | Pages 290-303
Technical Paper | Material | doi.org/10.13182/NT88-A34130
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The postirradiation fracture toughness responses of Types 316 and 304 stainless steel wrought products, cast CF8 stainless steel, and Type 308 stainless steel weld deposit were characterized at 427°C using JR curve techniques. Fast neutron irradiation of these alloys caused an order-of-magnitude reduction in Jc and two-orders-of-magnitude reduction in the tearing modulus at neutron exposures above 10 dpa, where radiation-induced losses in toughness appeared to saturate. Saturation Jc values for the wrought materials ranged from 28 to 31 kJ/m2; the weld exhibited a saturation level of 11 kJ/m2. Maximum allowable flaw sizes for highly irradiated stainless steel components stressed to 90% of the unirradiated yield strength are on the order of 3 cm for the wrought material and 1 cm for the weld. Electron fractographic examination revealed that irradiation displacement damage brought about a transition from ductile microvoid coalescence to channel fracture, associated with local separation along planar deformation bands. The lower saturation toughness value for the weld relative to that for the wrought products was attributed to local failure of ferrite particles ahead of the advancing crack that prematurely initiated channel fracture.