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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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2025 ANS Annual Conference
June 15–18, 2025
Chicago, IL|Chicago Marriott Downtown
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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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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
Pratik Joshi, Micah Tillman, Nilesh Kumar, Korukonda Murty, Nedim Cinbiz
Nuclear Technology | Volume 206 | Number 5 | May 2020 | Pages 706-716
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2019.1674581
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Zirconium-niobium (Zr-Nb) alloys are used as cladding materials to encapsulate radioactive fuel in nuclear reactors. They possess excellent corrosion resistance at high temperatures making it possible to achieve high fuel burnup, directly increasing the thermal efficiency of the reactor. While they are commonly used in recrystallized (Rx) form in boiling water reactors, there is a need to understand the effect of cold work and stress relief (CWSR) on the biaxial creep characteristics of these materials due to their use in pressurized water reactors. In this study, the biaxial creep behaviors of as-received Zr-Nb alloys, HANA and Zirlo®, have been investigated at 500°C and 400°C, respectively, using internally pressurized tubing superimposed with axial load under varied hoop σθ to axial σz stress ratios of 0 to 2 while monitoring both the axial and hoop strains using a linear variable displacement transformer and a laser telemetric extensometer, respectively. The crystallographic textures and creep loci of these as-received Zr-Nb alloys have been evaluated to correlate with the previous studies on recrystallized HANA4 and CWSR Zircaloy-4. The creep locus of HANA4 was found to be unaffected by initial state (CWSR or Rx) and showed close correspondence to planar isotropy while the creep locus of CWSR Zirlo exhibited more resistance to axial deformation than diametrical as per CWSR Zircaloy-4 reported earlier. These differences are shown to arise from grain-shape anisotropy of the CWSR Zirlo and Zircaloy-4. The simulated creep loci using crystallite-orientation distribution functions in conjunction with prism slip models showed excellent agreement with experimental results.