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Division Spotlight
Nuclear Installations Safety
Devoted specifically to the safety of nuclear installations and the health and safety of the public, this division seeks a better understanding of the role of safety in the design, construction and operation of nuclear installation facilities. The division also promotes engineering and scientific technology advancement associated with the safety of such facilities.
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2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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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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Latest News
Glass strategy: Hanford’s enhanced waste glass program
The mission of the Department of Energy’s Office of River Protection (ORP) is to complete the safe cleanup of waste resulting from decades of nuclear weapons development. One of the most technologically challenging responsibilities is the safe disposition of approximately 56 million gallons of radioactive waste historically stored in 177 tanks at the Hanford Site in Washington state.
ORP has a clear incentive to reduce the overall mission duration and cost. One pathway is to develop and deploy innovative technical solutions that can advance baseline flow sheets toward higher efficiency operations while reducing identified risks without compromising safety. Vitrification is the baseline process that will convert both high-level and low-level radioactive waste at Hanford into a stable glass waste form for long-term storage and disposal.
Although vitrification is a mature technology, there are key areas where technology can further reduce operational risks, advance baseline processes to maximize waste throughput, and provide the underpinning to enhance operational flexibility; all steps in reducing mission duration and cost.
Mirco Karl Grosse (KIT), Teun van Duijnhoven (KIT/FONTYS Univ of Applied Sciences), Martin Steinbrueck, Chongchong Tang, Sarfraz Ahmed, Uta Gerhards, Ingo Juergen Markel, Hans Juergen Seifert (KIT)
Proceedings | 2018 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants (ICAPP 2018) | Charlotte, NC, April 8-11, 2018 | Pages 590-597
Stacked couples of silicon carbide and Zircaloy-4 discs were annealed for 1 h in nominal inert atmosphere (6N Ar) at temperatures of 1200, 1400, 1500, 1550, 1575 and 1600°C. Strong interactions between silicon carbide and Zircaloy-4 occurred at temperatures of 1500°C and above. The width of the influenced zone exceeds 1 mm at 1550°C. A pronounced layer structure was found consisting of Zr-Si intermetallic compounds with different stoichiometry, the Zr-Sn intermetallic phase Zr2Sn and sub-stoichiometric ZrC1-x. The six different layers formed at temperatures of 1500°C and above contain these phases in diverse concentrations. At temperatures of 1575 and 1600°C, the discs welded together. This paper gives a detailed description of the results of the post-annealing examinations and an analysis of the interaction between the two materials.
