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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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No impact from Savannah River radioactive wasps
The news is abuzz with recent news stories about four radioactive wasp nests found at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina. The site has been undergoing cleanup operations since the 1990s related to the production of plutonium and tritium for defense purposes during the Cold War. Cleanup activities are expected to continue into the 2060s.
Robert V. Strain, Kenny C. Gross, John D. B. Lambert, Richard P. Colburn, Toshihiro Odo
Nuclear Technology | Volume 97 | Number 2 | February 1992 | Pages 227-240
Technical Paper | Nuclear Fuel Cycle | doi.org/10.13182/NT92-A34618
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A test containing 19 mixed-oxide fuel pins was operated in the Experimental Breeder Reactor II (EBRII) at peak cladding temperatures near 800°C. Two test pins that had been designed to fail at ∼5 at. % burnup and two low-burnup environmental pins failed and then were operated in the run beyond cladding breach mode for 22 days. Very high delayed neutron signals occurred during the irradiation of the test, and it was terminated as a result of high delayed neutron signals and evidence of plutonium in the coolant. Each of the four pins exhibited multiple breaches in the upper half of the fuel column. Measurements of fuel trapped on the filter section of a deposition sampler that was located above the test indicated that ∼2.7 g of fuel was lost during the irradiation. Postirradiation examination of the pins indicates that most of the fuel was lost from a single pin. The fuel loss resulted in an increase in the background delayed neutron signal but had no other deleterious long-term effect on the operation of the EBR-II.