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
Thermal Hydraulics
The division provides a forum for focused technical dialogue on thermal hydraulic technology in the nuclear industry. Specifically, this will include heat transfer and fluid mechanics involved in the utilization of nuclear energy. It is intended to attract the highest quality of theoretical and experimental work to ANS, including research on basic phenomena and application to nuclear system design.
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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Mar 2025
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Nuclear Science and Engineering
May 2025
Nuclear Technology
April 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
El Salvador: Looking to nuclear
In 2022, El Salvador’s leadership decided to expand its modest, mostly hydro- and geothermal-based electricity system, which is supported by expensive imported natural gas and diesel generation. They chose to use advanced nuclear reactors, preferably fueled by thorium-based fuels, to power their civilian efforts. The choice of thorium was made to inform the world that the reactor program was for civilian purposes only, and so they chose a fuel that was plentiful, easy to source and work with, and not a proliferation risk.
G. D. Loesser, C. S. Pitcher, R. Feder, D. Johnson, S. Pak, M. Walsh, Y. Zhai
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 64 | Number 2 | August 2013 | Pages 156-160
ITER | Proceedings of the Twentieth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (TOFE-2012) (Part 1), Nashville, Tennessee, August 27-31, 2012 | doi.org/10.13182/FST12-558
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The ITER Diagnostic Division is responsible for designing and procuring the First Wall Blankets that are mounted on the vacuum vessel port plugs at both the upper and equatorial levels. This paper will discuss the effects of the diagnostic aperture shape and configuration on the coolant circuit design. The Diagnostic First Wall (DFW) design is driven in large part by the need to conform the coolant arrangement to a wide variety of diagnostic apertures combined with the more severe heating conditions at the surface facing the plasma, the First Wall (FW). At the FW, a radiant heat flux of 35W/cm2 combines with approximate peak volumetric heating rates of 8W/cm3 (equatorial ports) and 5W/cm3 (upper ports). Here at the FW, a fast thermal response is desirable and leads to a thin element between the heat flux and coolant. This requirement conflicts with the desire to have a thicker FW element to accommodate surface erosion and other off-normal plasma events.
