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Division Spotlight
Human Factors, Instrumentation & Controls
Improving task performance, system reliability, system and personnel safety, efficiency, and effectiveness are the division's main objectives. Its major areas of interest include task design, procedures, training, instrument and control layout and placement, stress control, anthropometrics, psychological input, and motivation.
Meeting Spotlight
2025 ANS Annual Conference
June 15–18, 2025
Chicago, IL|Chicago Marriott 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
Smarter waste strategies: Helping deliver on the promise of advanced nuclear
At COP28, held in Dubai in 2023, a clear consensus emerged: Nuclear energy must be a cornerstone of the global clean energy transition. With electricity demand projected to soar as we decarbonize not just power but also industry, transport, and heat, the case for new nuclear is compelling. More than 20 countries committed to tripling global nuclear capacity by 2050. In the United States alone, the Department of Energy forecasts that the country’s current nuclear capacity could more than triple, adding 200 GW of new nuclear to the existing 95 GW by mid-century.
John O. Barner, Mitchel E. Cunningham, Maxwell D. Freshley, Donald D. Lanning
Nuclear Technology | Volume 102 | Number 2 | May 1993 | Pages 210-231
Technical Paper | Nuclear Fuel Cycle | doi.org/10.13182/NT93-A34818
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Research to define the behavior of Zircaloy-clad light water reactor (LWR) UO2 fuel irradiated to high burnup levels was conducted as part of the High Burnup Effects Program (HBEP). The HBEP was a 12-yr program that ultimately acquired, characterized, irradiated, and examined after irradiation 82 LWR fuel rods ranging in rod-average fuel burnup from 22 to 69 MWd/kg M with a peak pellet burnup of 83 MWd/kg M. A principal emphasis of the HBEP was to evaluate the effect of high burnup on fission gas release. It was confirmed that fission gas release remained as dependent on design and irradiation history parameters at high burnup levels as at low to moderate burnup levels. One observed high-burnup effect was the development of a burnup-dependent microstructure at the fuel pellet surface when pellet-edge burnup exceeded 65 MWd/kg M. This low-temperature “rim region” was characterized by a loss of optically definable grain structure, a high volume of porosity, and diffusion of fission gas from the UO2 matrix to the porosity. Although the rim region has the potential for enhanced fission gas release, it is concluded that no significant enhancement of rod-average fission gas release at high burnup levels was observed for the examined fuel rods.
