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Division Spotlight
Reactor Physics
The division's objectives are to promote the advancement of knowledge and understanding of the fundamental physical phenomena characterizing nuclear reactors and other nuclear systems. The division encourages research and disseminates information through meetings and publications. Areas of technical interest include nuclear data, particle interactions and transport, reactor and nuclear systems analysis, methods, design, validation and operating experience and standards. The Wigner Award heads the awards program.
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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Latest News
INL’s new innovation incubator could link start-ups with an industry sponsor
Idaho National Laboratory is looking for a sponsor to invest $5 million–$10 million in a privately funded innovation incubator to support seed-stage start-ups working in nuclear energy, integrated energy systems, cybersecurity, or advanced materials. For their investment, the sponsor gets access to what INL calls “a turnkey source of cutting-edge American innovation.” Not only are technologies supported by the program “substantially de-risked” by going through technical review and development at a national laboratory, but the arrangement “adds credibility, goodwill, and visibility to the private sector sponsor’s investments,” according to INL.
Ronald W. Goles, Langdon K. Holton, Jr., Gary J. Sevigny
Nuclear Technology | Volume 100 | Number 3 | December 1992 | Pages 310-321
Technical Paper | Enrichment and Reprocessing System | doi.org/10.13182/NT92-A34727
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) has evaluated the waste processing behavior of mercury in simulated defense waste. A series of tests was performed under various operating conditions using an experimental-scale liquid-fed ceramic melter (LFCM). This solidification technology had no detectable capacity for incorporating mercury into its product, borosilicate glass. Essentially all the mercury fed to the melter was lost to the off-gas system as gaseous effluent. An ejector venturi scrubber condensed and collected 97% of the mercury evolved from the melter. Chemically, the condensed mercury effluent was composed almost entirely of chlorides, and except in a low-temperature test, Hg2Cl2 was the primary chloride formed. As a result, combined mercury accounted for most of the insoluble mass collected by the process quench scrubber. Although macroscopic quantities of elemental mercury were never observed in process secondary waste streams, finely divided and dispersed mercury that blackened all condensed Hg2Cl2 residues was capable of saturating the quenched process exhaust with mercury vapor. The vapor pressure of mercury, however, in the quenched melter exhaust was easily and predictably controlled with the off-gas stream chiller. These tests followed 12 earlier experiments performed at PNL to study the behavior of mercury during vitrification of simulated typical defense waste. The experiments were conducted using an experimental-scale spray calciner/in-can melter (SC/ICM) system plus a very similar off-gas system. Results with both the LFCM and SC/ICM technologies were essentially the same. Just as with the LFCM, the mercury was completely volatilized from the in-can melter system in all experiments. It reacted predominantly with halogens to form a fine particulate solid, most of which was deposited in the off-gas system piping.
