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
Aerospace Nuclear Science & Technology
Organized to promote the advancement of knowledge in the use of nuclear science and technologies in the aerospace application. Specialized nuclear-based technologies and applications are needed to advance the state-of-the-art in aerospace design, engineering and operations to explore planetary bodies in our solar system and beyond, plus enhance the safety of air travel, especially high speed air travel. Areas of interest will include but are not limited to the creation of nuclear-based power and propulsion systems, multifunctional materials to protect humans and electronic components from atmospheric, space, and nuclear power system radiation, human factor strategies for the safety and reliable operation of nuclear power and propulsion plants by non-specialized personnel and more.
Meeting Spotlight
ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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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Feb 2025
Jul 2024
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Nuclear Science and Engineering
March 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
February 2025
Latest News
Colin Judge: Testing structural materials in Idaho’s newest hot cell facility
Idaho National Laboratory’s newest facility—the Sample Preparation Laboratory (SPL)—sits across the road from the Hot Fuel Examination Facility (HFEF), which started operating in 1975. SPL will host the first new hot cells at INL’s Materials and Fuels Complex (MFC) in 50 years, giving INL researchers and partners new flexibility to test the structural properties of irradiated materials fresh from the Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) or from a partner’s facility.
Materials meant to withstand extreme conditions in fission or fusion power plants must be tested under similar conditions and pushed past their breaking points so performance and limitations can be understood and improved. Once irradiated, materials samples can be cut down to size in SPL and packaged for testing in other facilities at INL or other national laboratories, commercial labs, or universities. But they can also be subjected to extreme thermal or corrosive conditions and mechanical testing right in SPL, explains Colin Judge, who, as INL’s division director for nuclear materials performance, oversees SPL and other facilities at the MFC.
SPL won’t go “hot” until January 2026, but Judge spoke with NN staff writer Susan Gallier about its capabilities as his team was moving instruments into the new facility.
The American Nuclear Society provides statements which reflect the Society's perspectives on issues of public interest that involve various aspects of nuclear science and technology. Position statements are prepared by key members whose relevant experience or publications inform the documents and then the documents are reviewed by ANS committees and divisions. The final position statements are approved by the Board of Directors.
Advanced Reactors — ANS-35-2022
Read the Statement
Assuring U.S. Global Nuclear Leadership — ANS-83-2021
Clearance of Solid Materials from Nuclear Facilities — ANS-50-2023
Creation of an Independent Entity to Manage U.S. Used Nuclear Fuel — ANS-22-2015
Decommissioning of Nuclear Power Reactors — ANS-13-2015
Disposal of Low-Level Radioactive Waste — ANS-11-2017
More:Background Information
Disposition of Surplus Weapons Plutonium — ANS-47-2020
Diversity in the Nuclear Profession — ANS-66-2018
Domestic Production of Stable and Radioactive Isotopes — ANS-30-2022
Education, Training, and Workforce Development for Nuclear Science, Engineering, and Technology — ANS-85-2024
Fusion Energy — ANS-12-2024
Health Effects of Low-Level Radiation — ANS-41-2020
Interim Storage of Used or Spent Nuclear Fuel — ANS-76-2017
Licensing of Yucca Mountain as a Geological Repository for Radioactive Wastes — ANS-80-2017
Management of the Nation's Used Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Waste — ANS-3-2023
Nonproliferation — ANS-55-2023
Nuclear Energy's Role in Climate Change Policy — ANS-44-2022
More:Platform
Nuclear Engineering Licensure — ANS-61-2016
Nuclear Fuel Recycling — ANS-45-2014
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission — ANS-77-2022
Nuclear Technology's Critical Role In The World's Future Energy Supply — ANS-43-2019
Price-Anderson Act — ANS-54-2024
Risk-Informed and Performance-Based Regulations for Nuclear Power Plants — ANS-46-2017
Safeguards and Security for Advanced Reactors Using HALEU — ANS-84-2023
Safety of Nuclear Power — ANS-51-2021
Small Modular Reactors — ANS-25-2020
Space Nuclear Power and Propulsion Systems — ANS-40-2024
Transportation of Radioactive Materials — ANS-18-2021
More:Backgrounder
U.S. Commercial Nuclear Power Plants: A Vital National Asset — ANS-26-2017
The Use of Highly Enriched Uranium for the Production of Medical Isotopes — ANS-72-2022
The Use of Thorium as Nuclear Fuel — ANS-78-2020
