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Conference Spotlight
2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
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The journey of the U.S. fuel cycle
Craig Piercycpiercy@ans.org
While most big journeys begin with a clear objective, they rarely start with an exact knowledge of the route. When commissioning the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1803, President Thomas Jefferson didn’t provide specific “turn right at the big mountain” directions to the Corps of Discovery. He gave goal-oriented instructions: explore the Missouri River, find its source, search for a transcontinental water route to the Pacific, and build scientific and cultural knowledge along the way.
Jefferson left it up to Lewis and Clark to turn his broad, geopolitically motivated guidance into gritty reality.
Similarly, U.S. nuclear policy has begun a journey toward closing the U.S. nuclear fuel cycle. There is a clear signal of support for recycling from the Trump administration, along with growing bipartisan excitement in Congress. Yet the precise path remains unclear.
Zhengming Zhang, Shuyan He
Nuclear Technology | Volume 160 | Number 2 | November 2007 | Pages 170-177
Technical Paper | Fission Reactors | doi.org/10.13182/NT07-A3890
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Leak-before-break analysis of pressurized vessels and pipes is an important technique to guarantee the safety of reactor pressurized components. This analytical method involves many technical problems that need intensive study. Among these problems, the leak rate of the coolant is far from being well understood. The results of the current leak-rate models may have large errors. Little study has been carried out on the leak rate of gas coolant used in a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR). This paper introduces experimental and theoretical studies on the leak rate of a gas medium. The focus is on the results of the experimental studies. A series of experiments for the leak rate of a gas medium were conducted based on preliminary simulation of the penetrated crack. Systematic data were obtained. The laws of a gas medium flowing through a narrow slit are summarized.
