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
Materials Science & Technology
The objectives of MSTD are: promote the advancement of materials science in Nuclear Science Technology; support the multidisciplines which constitute it; encourage research by providing a forum for the presentation, exchange, and documentation of relevant information; promote the interaction and communication among its members; and recognize and reward its members for significant contributions to the field of materials science in nuclear technology.
Meeting Spotlight
Utility Working Conference and Vendor Technology Expo (UWC 2024)
August 4–7, 2024
Marco Island, FL|JW Marriott Marco Island
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
Jul 2024
Jan 2024
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
August 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
ARPA-E announces $40 million to develop transmutation technologies for UNF
The Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E) announced $40 million in funding to develop cutting-edge technologies to enable the transmutation of used nuclear fuel into less-radioactive substances. According to ARPA-E, the new initiative addresses one of the agency’s core goals as outlined by Congress: to provide transformative solutions to improve the management, cleanup, and disposal of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel.
I. Bonnett, A. Busigin, A. Shapiro
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 54 | Number 1 | July 2008 | Pages 209-214
Technical Paper | Waste Handling | doi.org/10.13182/FST08-A1797
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Recent increased interest from regulators and the public has led more organizations to consider the environmental impact and safety considerations of tritium handling. Examples include the significance of the tritium isotope separation system on ITER licensing, remediation of ground water from power utilities and government facilities and concerns of high tritium concentrations within operational CANDU reactors.GE Healthcare, formerly Amersham plc, has been producing tritium-labelled chemicals since the late 1940s. GE's manufacturing site located near Cardiff, UK has installed a tritium waste treatment and enrichment facility to radically reduce tritium discharges to the environment. This facility employs a continuous processing plant that recovers tritium from a complex mixture of tritiated organic and aqueous waste compounds. Two isotope separation techniques are used to achieve a final pure tritium product, which is used in the manufacturing of labelled compounds.Building upon this experience, together with Special Separations Applications Inc. (SSAI), GE has developed a large-scale diffusion-based isotope separation process as an alternative to conventional cryogenic distillation. Having a tritium inventory an order of magnitude lower than conventional cryogenic distillation, this process is attractive for heavy water detritiation, applicable to single and multi-unit CANDU reactors and research reactors as well as fusion applications. Additionally, the new process has advantages of being cryogen-free, less complex, simple to operate and having improved conventional and radiological safety.