Topic of Current Interest
To maintain safe storage, the industry and Nuclear Regulatory Commission need to better understand the physical and chemical characteristics of nuclear fuel
Extrusion technique creates new fuel from depleted uranium
Advanced nuclear reactors will use new types of fuel. To ensure such systems are safe, experimental fuel samples must be fabricated and tested in safe research environments such as those at Idaho National Laboratory. Marking an important step toward the advancement of a new type of reactor, INL employees recently completed the first successful test of fabrication equipment in […]
Battelle Energy Alliance seeks industry partners for advanced construction technologies
Battelle Energy Alliance is seeking industry partners interested in developing advanced construction technologies for nuclear energy systems.
Historic reactor dome gets a face-lift
The historic Experimental Breeder Reactor-II dome is getting a well-deserved face-lift, inside and out.
TETI 2.0: Understanding nuclear fuel behavior at the atomic level
Transporting heat is an essential part of our daily life – from boiling a pot of water to creating complex carbon-free energy technologies that power our cellphones, laptops and home appliances. Nuclear energy, an example of heat transfer, has a proven track record spanning over 70 years. It currently provides approximately 20% of the total […]
Future of mining is microreactors: Idaho National Laboratory sees big benefits
Powering a remote zinc mine located roughly 600 miles northwest of Anchorage, Alaska, is a Herculean task. Governments and industry have taken a particular interest in remote arctic mining locations, not only because of the region’s vast mineral resources, but also because of shipping routes that are opening through the ice due to climate change. […]
Key nuclear modeling and simulation software releases new version
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho — Idaho National Laboratory has released the latest version of RELAP5-3D, a versatile modeling and simulation tool that predicts complex phenomena happening inside a nuclear reactor. This update is the first RELAP5-3D code release in five years. This latest version of RELAP5-3D is part of INL’s integrated computational strategy for accelerating clean […]
If you build a test facility, developers will come
In the classic baseball film “Field of Dreams,” Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) builds a baseball field in the middle of an Iowa cornfield, adhering to ghostly whispers that if he builds it “he” will come. Borrowing from the same script, the National Reactor Innovation Center (NRIC) is now designing and constructing two fields, in the […]
Watching trends: How INL helps the NRC model risk and reliability
Since the 1990s, Idaho National Laboratory has helped the Nuclear Regulatory Commission understand the safety and reliability of all U.S. nuclear power plants. Supporters of nuclear energy tout the safety and reliability of nuclear power, and data supports their claims. According to detailed studies, nuclear power accounts for 0.03 deaths per terawatt-hour of electricity generated, […]
U.S. researchers fabricate commercial grade uranium dioxide HALEU fuel
As the world clamors for carbon-free power, U.S. nuclear reactor developers have responded with a multitude of advanced reactor designs. These reactors would produce efficient, flexible heat and electricity. Nuclear energy from light water reactors already ranks among the safest forms of energy production, and most advanced reactors will use safety systems that rely on […]
