ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
Latest Magazine Issues
Aug 2026
Jan 2026
2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
October 2026
Nuclear Technology
September 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
August 2026
Latest News
Center for Used Fuel Research: Building confidence in storage and transport
Used nuclear fuel storage and transportation have reached a critical juncture.
Dozens of utilities need reliable data on how used nuclear fuel performs in dry storage casks and canisters to extend regulatory licenses at sites across the United States. Likewise, the Department of Energy expects to take ownership of the used nuclear fuel—termed “spent nuclear fuel” in the laws and regulations governing its stewardship—and transfer it to one or more federal staging facilities for management and disposition.
Meanwhile, dozens of reactor companies are testing prototypes of advanced reactors and advanced reactor fuels. Eventually, regulators and industry must also verify the safety and security of storage methods for these advanced fuel types.
To help address these challenges, the DOE established the Center for Used Fuel Research (CUFR) in January 2026 for work related to the long-term storage and transport of used nuclear fuel.
Meryll Colombet, Martin Freitag
Nuclear Technology | Volume 212 | Number 7 | July 2026 | Pages 1699-1715
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2026.2638711
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The high-temperature reactor (HTR) code package, HCP, was initially codeveloped by Forschungszentrum Julich (FZJ) and RWTH Aachen University to address the need for an integral code package for HTR technologies, serving both licensing and safety evaluations. The code combines many previously independent analysis tools that were developed during HTR development in Germany, particularly at FZJ.
The consolidation of the HCP code is part of the German research project KONHCP (KONsolidierung HCP) with the integration of central processes such as the reactivity control by control rods (Technical University of Munich) and the simulation of the fission products release and transport within the primary circuit in normal and accident conditions (Becker Technologies).
This paper provides insights into the status of the integration in HCP of the Source Term Analysis Code system (STACY) module. In its original form, STACY is a standalone code in which users provide the data input, with several calculations needed to simulate different pebble histories. In the HCP framework, full-core calculations are now supported. For each fuel zone (node/batch), a STACY calculation is performed, with the other HCP modules automatically providing the input data required for the source term evaluation.
A source term calculation for a small HTR in normal operation followed by a station blackout (SBO) using a single input in a single calculation run is presented. The simulation provides the maximum fuel temperature reached during the SBO transient as well as the fractional release of relevant nuclides. The analysis is supported by an uncertainty study. To assess the capabilities of HCP in simulating a HTR under normal and accident conditions, the HTR-10 reactor test case was selected and benchmarked on two scenarios: steady-state temperature at full power and SBO at 3 MW.
