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Division Spotlight
Decommissioning & Environmental Sciences
The mission of the Decommissioning and Environmental Sciences (DES) Division is to promote the development and use of those skills and technologies associated with the use of nuclear energy and the optimal management and stewardship of the environment, sustainable development, decommissioning, remediation, reutilization, and long-term surveillance and maintenance of nuclear-related installations, and sites. The target audience for this effort is the membership of the Division, the Society, and the public at large.
Meeting Spotlight
International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering (M&C 2025)
April 27–30, 2025
Denver, CO|The Westin Denver Downtown
Standards Program
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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May 2025
Latest News
Argonne’s METL gears up to test more sodium fast reactor components
Argonne National Laboratory has successfully swapped out an aging cold trap in the sodium test loop called METL (Mechanisms Engineering Test Loop), the Department of Energy announced April 23. The upgrade is the first of its kind in the United States in more than 30 years, according to the DOE, and will help test components and operations for the sodium-cooled fast reactors being developed now.
Vikram Singh, Alexander M. Wheeler, Belle R. Upadhyaya, Ond?ej Chvá (Univ of Tennessee, Knoxville), M. Scott Greenwood (ORNL)
Proceedings | Nuclear Plant Instrumentation, Control, and Human-Machine Interface Technolgies (NPIC&HMIT 2019) | Orlando, FL, February 9-14, 2019 | Pages 199-208
Preliminary results from a nonlinear dynamic model of the Molten Salt Demonstration Reactor (MSDR) plant are presented. This model is coupled to an integral economizer Once-Through Steam Generator (OTSG) model with variable boiling length to simulate operation at different power levels. The reactivity effect of Xe-135 is also integrated to investigate open-loop load-following operation. Simulation results show that the reactor model is stable for the investigated reactivity perturbations. A load-following excursion is simulated by varying the feedwater flow rate through the steam generator. Results show that the MSDR can follow load demand in a stable manner through temperature-based reactivity feedbacks alone without requiring operator input. Future work involves development of instrumentation systems and control strategies to achieve near autonomous plant operation.
