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Division Spotlight
Human Factors, Instrumentation & Controls
Improving task performance, system reliability, system and personnel safety, efficiency, and effectiveness are the division's main objectives. Its major areas of interest include task design, procedures, training, instrument and control layout and placement, stress control, anthropometrics, psychological input, and motivation.
Meeting Spotlight
2025 ANS Annual Conference
June 15–18, 2025
Chicago, IL|Chicago Marriott Downtown
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!
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Latest News
High-temperature plumbing and advanced reactors
The use of nuclear fission power and its role in impacting climate change is hotly debated. Fission advocates argue that short-term solutions would involve the rapid deployment of Gen III+ nuclear reactors, like Vogtle-3 and -4, while long-term climate change impact would rely on the creation and implementation of Gen IV reactors, “inherently safe” reactors that use passive laws of physics and chemistry rather than active controls such as valves and pumps to operate safely. While Gen IV reactors vary in many ways, one thing unites nearly all of them: the use of exotic, high-temperature coolants. These fluids, like molten salts and liquid metals, can enable reactor engineers to design much safer nuclear reactors—ultimately because the boiling point of each fluid is extremely high. Fluids that remain liquid over large temperature ranges can provide good heat transfer through many demanding conditions, all with minimal pressurization. Although the most apparent use for these fluids is advanced fission power, they have the potential to be applied to other power generation sources such as fusion, thermal storage, solar, or high-temperature process heat.1–3
Jong-Dae Hong, Euijung Kim, Yong-Sik Yang, Dong-Hak Kook
Nuclear Technology | Volume 203 | Number 3 | September 2018 | Pages 282-292
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2018.1448203
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
One of the limiting mechanisms of pressurized water reactor spent fuel cladding is creep owing to high temperature and rod internal pressure. Based on extensive studies, many countries have tentatively concluded that creep rupture is hard to occur under dry storage conditions and cannot severely degrade the integrity of the cladding if it meets the 400°C limitation owing to a self-limiting property. However, the changes in mechanical properties after creep deformation are not well understood due to the limited amount of relevant tests and analyses. In this regard, mechanical property degradation of unirradiated Zircaloy-4 cladding by creep deformation was investigated using a ring compression test and microscopic observation. In addition, the implication regarding spent fuel cladding integrity based on the test results is described.
