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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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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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Deep Space: The new frontier of radiation controls
In commercial nuclear power, there has always been a deliberate tension between the regulator and the utility owner. The regulator fundamentally exists to protect the worker, and the utility, to make a profit. It is a win-win balance.
From the U.S. nuclear industry has emerged a brilliantly successful occupational nuclear safety record—largely the result of an ALARA (as low as reasonably achievable) process that has driven exposure rates down to what only a decade ago would have been considered unthinkable. In the U.S. nuclear industry, the system has accomplished an excellent, nearly seamless process that succeeds to the benefit of both employee and utility owner.
A. L. Pitner, B. C. Gneiting, F. E. Bard
Nuclear Technology | Volume 112 | Number 2 | November 1995 | Pages 194-203
Technical Paper | Nuclear Fuel Cycle | doi.org/10.13182/NT95-A35173
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In comparison with the Fast Flux Test Facility Type 316 stainless steel driver design, six test assemblies employing D9 alloy in place of stainless steel for duct, cladding, and wire wrap material were irradiated to demonstrate the improved performance and lifetime capability of an advanced D9 alloy driver design. A single pinhole-type breach occurred in one of the high-exposure tests after a peak fuel burnup of 155 MWd/kg metal (M) and peak fast neutron fluence of 25 × 1022 n/cm2 (E > 0.1 MeV). Postirradiation examinations were performed on four of the test assemblies and measured results were compared with analytical evaluations. A revised swelling correlation for D9 alloy was developed to provide improved agreement between calculated and measured cladding deformation results. A fuel pin lifetime design criterion of 5% calculated hoop strain was derived from these results. Alternatively, fuel pin lifetimes were developed for two irradiation parameters using statistical failure analyses. For a 99.99% reliability, the analyses indicated a peak fast-fluence lifetime of 21.0 × 1022 n/cm2, or a peak fuel burnup > 120 MWd/kg M. In comparison with the Fast Flux Test Facility reference driver design, the extended lifetime capability of D9 alloy would reduce fuel supply requirements for the liquid-metal reactor by a third.