ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Oct 2025
Jul 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
November 2025
Nuclear Technology
October 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Sellafield awards $3.86B in infrastructure contracts to three companies
Sellafield Ltd., the site license company overseeing the decommissioning of the U.K.’s Sellafield nuclear site in Cumbria, England, announced the award of £2.9 billion (about $3.86 billion) in infrastructure support contracts to the companies of Morgan Sindall Infrastructure, Costain, and HOCHTIEF (UK) Construction.
Jing Wang, Ronald G. Ballinger, Heather J. Maclean
Nuclear Technology | Volume 148 | Number 1 | October 2004 | Pages 68-96
Technical Paper | Materials for Nuclear Systems | doi.org/10.13182/NT04-A3549
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An integrated fuel performance model for coated particle fuel has been developed to comprehensively study the behavior of TRISO-coated fuel. Modeling of both pebble-bed and prismatic configurations is possible. In the case of the pebble-bed concept, refueling of pebbles is simulated to account for the nonuniform environment in the reactor core and history-dependent particle behavior. Monte Carlo sampling of particles is employed in fuel failure prediction to capture the statistical features of dimensions; material properties; and, in the case of the pebble-bed concept, the statistical nature of the refueling process. An advanced fuel failure model has been developed based on a probabilistic fracture mechanics approach. The mechanical analysis includes effects of anisotropic irradiation-induced dimensional changes and isotropic irradiation-induced creep, and the fluence-dependent Poisson ratio in irradiation creep. The stress analysis is benchmarked against the calculations of Japanese High Temperature Test Reactor (HTTR) first-loading fuel and finite element result on one case performed by the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory. The failure model predictions are compared with NPR1, NPR2, and NPR1A capsule irradiation data. The model results compare very favorably with postirradiation examination results both in terms of failure probability, number of failed particles, and Kr85m R/B evolution during irradiation.