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The Radiation Protection and Shielding Division is developing and promoting radiation protection and shielding aspects of nuclear science and technology — including interaction of nuclear radiation with materials and biological systems, instruments and techniques for the measurement of nuclear radiation fields, and radiation shield design and evaluation.
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2025 ANS Annual Conference
June 15–18, 2025
Chicago, IL|Chicago Marriott Downtown
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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
Yiren Lian, Hongchao Sun, Hao Yang, Xiaopeng Song, Xinjing Yang, Shutang Sun, Pengyi Wang, Lei Chen, Yeming Zhu, Guoqiang Li, Jiangang Zhang
Nuclear Technology | Volume 209 | Number 9 | September 2023 | Pages 1398-1404
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2023.2200542
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In the nuclear fuel cycle, 30 vol % tributyl phosphate/kerosene is always used as the major actinide extractant. However, there is a risk of fire accident during the usage of the solvent solution. It is necessary to investigate solvent fire because of the release of radioactive materials and possible overheating and blocking of ventilation filters. This paper discusses several tests of solvent solution combustion that were carried out to analyze the safety of solvent fire. Parameters such as gas emission of solvent burning, mass loss rate, and production of aerosol were obtained and analyzed. The experimental data obtained in this paper can be useful to develop a method of solvent fire assessment and evaluate a solvent fire accident in a nuclear fuel cycle facility.