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.
Division Spotlight
Nuclear Criticality Safety
NCSD provides communication among nuclear criticality safety professionals through the development of standards, the evolution of training methods and materials, the presentation of technical data and procedures, and the creation of specialty publications. In these ways, the division furthers the exchange of technical information on nuclear criticality safety with the ultimate goal of promoting the safe handling of fissionable materials outside reactors.
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Apr 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
June 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
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.
T. Parham, B. Kozioziemski, D. Atkinson, P. Baisden, L. Bertolini, K. Boehm, A. Chernov, K. Coffee, F. Coffield, R. Dylla-Spears, O. Edwards, J. Fair, M. Fedorov, J. Fry, C. Gibson, B. Haid, D. Holunga, T. Kohut, T. Lewis, T. Malsbury, E. Mapoles, J. Sater, K. Skulina, D. Trummer, C. Walters
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 69 | Number 1 | January-February 2016 | Pages 407-419
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST15-162
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A cryogenic target positioning system was designed and installed on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) target chamber. This instrument incorporates the ability to fill, form, and characterize the NIF targets with hydrogen isotopes needed for ignition experiments inside the NIF target bay then transport and position them in the target chamber. This effort brought to fruition years of research in growing and metrologizing high-quality hydrogen fuel layers and landed it in an especially demanding operations environment in the NIF facility. D-T (deuterium-tritium) layers for NIF ignition experiments have extremely tight specifications and must be grown in a very highly constrained environment: a NIF ignition target inside a cryogenic target positioner inside the NIF target bay. Exquisite control of temperature, pressure, contaminant level, and thermal uniformity are necessary throughout seed formation and layer growth to create an essentially-groove-free single crystal layer.
The team developed processes, procedures, software, and metrology techniques to form and qualify solid layers of hydrogen isotopes at a quality level and yield needed to support the National Ignition Campaign experimental program. The team has grown over 220 layers in NIF, and 52 have been shot to date.