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
Jun 2026
Jan 2026
2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
July 2026
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Two steps forward for U.K. advanced nuclear
This week, two significant announcements have emerged from the United Kingdom’s advanced reactor sector.
On June 14, Rolls-Royce, the United Kingdom National Nuclear Laboratory, and the Japan Atomic Energy Agency announced that they had signed two trilateral memorandums of cooperation to collaborate on “advanced modular reactor (AMR) technology, specifically high-temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGR), and the coated particle fuel these reactors will use.”
Separately, on June 16, Bellevue, Wash.–based TerraPower announced that its Natrium reactor design has been formally submitted for U.K. regulatory review. The company also announced the formation of a new subsidiary, TerraPower UK Ltd.
Masato Uchita, Takayuki Miyagawa, Koji Dozaki (JAPC), Yoshitaka Chikazawa, Shigenobu Kubo, Hiroki Hayafune (JAEA), Tetsuji Suzuno, Tsuyoshi Fukasawa, Yoshio Kamishima (Mitsubishi FBR Systems, Inc.), Satoshi Fujita (Tokyo Denki Univ)
Proceedings | 2018 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants (ICAPP 2018) | Charlotte, NC, April 8-11, 2018 | Pages 380-386
The pool-type reactor encloses primary pumps and IHXs located around the core barrel in a reactor vessel. Consequently, the reactor vessel diameter tends to be larger than that of loop-type reactor. From the viewpoint of commercialization in the future, the vessel diameter and its weight including sodium coolant will increase further. Moreover, the seismic loading conditions imposed on design works of the SFR concept are very severe for large vessel. For the heavy weight large vessel under severe seismic conditions, the buckling evaluation on the cylindrical part of the vessel is significant for a feasibility study. In this paper, the prospects are described in terms of seismic design to prevent buckling of the reactor vessel based on parameter studies with diameters of the vessel. In addition, the seismic isolation device which will be effective as a countermeasure is proposed in order to secure a margin against buckling of a large reactor vessel.