Fuel elements (fuel rods) and spacer grids are the main of fuel assembly a nuclear reactor. Friction forces affect strength at all stages its life cycle. The paper presents methods results pre-reactor experimental studies static dynamic processes involving friction forces. These include manufacturer’s factory, hydrodynamic vibration rods fretting corrosion in “fuel cell” nodes spacing grid, mov...

The glut of fissile material from reprocessing plants and from the conclusion of the cold war has provided the opportunity to design new fuel types to beneficially dispose of such stocks by generating useful power. Thus, in addition to the normal reactor core complement of enriched uranium fuel assemblies, two other types are available on the world market. These are the ERU (enriched recycled u...

Technetium is intimately linked with nuclear reactions. The ultraminute natural levels in the environment are due to the spontaneous fission of uranium isotopes. The discovery of technetium was born from accelerator reactions, and its use and presence in the modern world are directly due to nuclear reactors. While occupying a central location in the periodic table, the chemistry of technetium i...

The increased urgency of dealing with mitigation of the looming climate change has sparked renewed interest in the nuclear energy option. There exists a substantial stream of research on the amount of embodied energy and greenhouse gas emissions associated with nuclear generated electricity. While conventional fossil fuelled power plants cause emissions almost exclusively from the plant site, t...

Robots and remote systems will play crucial roles in future decontamination and decommissioning (D&D) of nuclear facilities. Many of these facilities, such as uranium enrichment plants, weapons assembly plants, research and production reactors, and fuel recycling facilities, are dormant; there is also an increasing number of commercial reactors whose useful lifetime is nearly over. To reduce wo...

The United States is now re-assessing its nuclear waste disposal policy and re-evaluating the option of moving away from the current once-through open fuel cycle to a closed fuel cycle. In a closed fuel cycle, used fuels will be reprocessed and useful components such as uranium or transuranics will be recovered for reuse (e.g., Bodansky, 2006). During this process, a variety of waste streams wi...