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
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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
Aug 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
September 2025
Nuclear Technology
August 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Chris Wagner: The role of Eden Radioisotopes in the future of nuclear medicine
Chris Wagner has more than 40 years of experience in nuclear medicine, beginning as a clinical practitioner before moving into leadership roles at companies like Mallinckrodt (now Curium) and Nordion. His knowledge of both the clinical and the manufacturing sides of nuclear medicine laid the groundwork for helping to found Eden Radioisotopes, a start-up venture that intends to make diagnostic and therapeutic raw material medical isotopes like molybdenum-99 and lutetium-177.
G. Rodriguez, O. Gastaldi, F. Baque
Nuclear Technology | Volume 150 | Number 1 | April 2005 | Pages 100-110
Technical Paper | Sodium Technology | doi.org/10.13182/NT05-A3608
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique (CEA) has recently developed and/or conducted experiments on several processes in support of the decommissioning of two French liquid-metal fast reactors (LMFRs), Rapsodie and Superphénix, as well as on the treatment of CEA sodium wastes. CEA has demonstrated that it is possible to define appropriate and efficient processes to meet the different situations encountered in decommissioning LMFRs. Mechanical techniques derived from standard technologies have been successfully applied to fast reactor decommissioning to complete primary vessel draining from sodium. In addition, specific chemical processes have been developed to deal safely with metallic sodium reactivity. Sodium-contaminated equipment has been successfully cleaned by reacting sodium with water mist in an atmosphere with carbon dioxide to form inert sodium carbonate. Bulk sodium has been successfully converted into aqueous caustic soda by injection of liquid-metallic sodium into sodium hydroxide solution. Several processes were also defined to deal with specific sodium wastes. In all cases the principle is based on a sodium/water chemical reaction where the released hydrogen and heat are controlled. With the development of a wide variety of processes, all steps in the decommissioning of LMFRs are assumed to be now properly mastered.