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November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
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OECD NEA meeting focuses on irradiation experiments
Members of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency’s Second Framework for Irradiation Experiments (FIDES-II) joint undertaking gathered from September 29 to October 3 in Ketchum, Idaho, for the technical advisory group and governing board meetings hosted by Idaho National Laboratory. The FIDES-II Framework aims to ensure and foster competences in experimental nuclear fuel and structural materials in-reactor experiments through a diverse set of Joint Experimental Programs (JEEPs).
D. M. Lucoff
Nuclear Technology | Volume 88 | Number 1 | October 1989 | Pages 21-29
Technical Paper | Nuclear Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT89-A34333
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
During 1986, the Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF) conducted several tests designed to improve the understanding of the passive safety characteristics of an oxide-fueled liquid-metal reactor (LMR). Static and dynamic tests were performed over a broad range of power, flow, and temperature conditions that extended beyond those for normal operation. Key results of these tests are presented. Stable operation at low power with natural circulation cooling was demonstrated. A passive safety enhancement feature, the gas expansion module (GEM) was developed specifically to offset the large amount of cooldown reactivity that needs to be controlled in an oxide-fueled LMR undergoing an unprotected loss-of-flow accident. Nine GEMs were built and successfully tested in FFTF. With the reactor at 50% power [200 MW(thermal)], the main coolant pumps were turned off and the normal control rod scram response was inhibited. The GEMs and inherent core reactivity feedback mechanisms took the core subcritical with a modest peak coolant temperature transient that reached 85°C above the pretransient value and always maintained a >400°C margin to the sodium boiling point (910°C).