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Robotics & Remote Systems
The Mission of the Robotics and Remote Systems Division is to promote the development and application of immersive simulation, robotics, and remote systems for hazardous environments for the purpose of reducing hazardous exposure to individuals, reducing environmental hazards and reducing the cost of performing work.
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2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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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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Latest News
Glass strategy: Hanford’s enhanced waste glass program
The mission of the Department of Energy’s Office of River Protection (ORP) is to complete the safe cleanup of waste resulting from decades of nuclear weapons development. One of the most technologically challenging responsibilities is the safe disposition of approximately 56 million gallons of radioactive waste historically stored in 177 tanks at the Hanford Site in Washington state.
ORP has a clear incentive to reduce the overall mission duration and cost. One pathway is to develop and deploy innovative technical solutions that can advance baseline flow sheets toward higher efficiency operations while reducing identified risks without compromising safety. Vitrification is the baseline process that will convert both high-level and low-level radioactive waste at Hanford into a stable glass waste form for long-term storage and disposal.
Although vitrification is a mature technology, there are key areas where technology can further reduce operational risks, advance baseline processes to maximize waste throughput, and provide the underpinning to enhance operational flexibility; all steps in reducing mission duration and cost.
Jennifer A. Lyons, Wade R. Marcum, Sean Morrell, Mark DeHart
Nuclear Technology | Volume 189 | Number 2 | February 2015 | Pages 202-217
Technical Note | Fission Reactors | doi.org/10.13182/NT14-33
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) is conducting scoping studies for the conversion of its fuel from a highly enriched uranium (HEU) composition to a low-enriched uranium (LEU) composition, through the Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors Program, within the Global Threat Reduction Initiative. These studies have considered a wide variety of LEU plate-type fuels to replace the current HEU fuel. Continuing to investigate potential alternatives to the present HEU fuel form, this study presents a preliminary reactor physics scoping and feasibility analysis of TRIGA fuel within the current ATR fuel element envelope and compares it to the functional requirements delineated by the Naval Reactors Program, which includes >4.8×1014 fissions/s·g−1 of 235U in test positions, a fast–to–thermal neutron flux ratio that has a <5% deviation from its current value, a desired steady cycle power within the corner lobes, and an operational cycle length of 56 days at 120 MW. Other design parameters outside those put forth by the Naval Reactors Program that are investigated herein include axial and radial power profiles, effective delayed neutron fraction, and mean neutron generation time. The result of this study demonstrates potential promise for implementation of TRIGA fuel in the ATR from a reactor physics perspective; discussion of observations and limitations are provided herein.