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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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The newest era of workforce development at ANS
As most attendees of this year’s ANS Annual Conference left breakfast in the Grand Ballroom of the Chicago Downtown Marriott to sit in on presentations covering everything from career pathways in fusion to recently digitized archival nuclear films, 40 of them made their way to the hotel’s fifth floor to take part in the second offering of Nuclear 101, a newly designed certification course that seeks to give professionals who are in or adjacent to the industry an in-depth understanding of the essentials of nuclear energy and engineering from some of the field’s leading experts.
W. Van Snyder
Nuclear Technology | Volume 209 | Number 11 | November 2023 | Pages 1840-1858
Note | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2023.2205551
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In April 1961, Atomic Power Development Associates (APDA) produced the “Summary of the APDA Fuel Development Programs.” Chapter XVII described a paste fuel concept. The report noted that there are “advantages inherent in a mobile-fueled reactor.” Patent number 3,169,117, entitled “Nuclear Reactor Paste Fuel Composition,” was issued on May 9, 1961. In May 1964, Argonne National Laboratory produced the “Catalog of Nuclear Reactor Concepts.” The chapter concerning paste fuels concluded: “The few paste-fuel concepts developed to date and the present early stages of such developments show that considerably more work probably will be required before the paste-fuel concept can be considered for commercial development.” This monograph enlarges upon and quantifies the APDA concept, which appears not to have been pursued. Additional passive safety concepts that might also eliminate the need for control assemblies are described. Several important consequences of continuously processed fuel that are not discussed in the APDA report are described in this paper, in particular, that the “iodine pit” startup control instability can be eliminated.