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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Apr 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
May 2025
Nuclear Technology
April 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Norway’s Halden reactor takes first step toward decommissioning
The government of Norway has granted the transfer of the Halden research reactor from the Institute for Energy Technology (IFE) to the state agency Norwegian Nuclear Decommissioning (NND). The 25-MWt Halden boiling water reactor operated from 1958 to 2018 and was used in the research of nuclear fuel, reactor internals, plant procedures and monitoring, and human factors.
Balabhadra Misra, Grover D. Morgan
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 9 | Number 3 | May 1986 | Pages 452-458
Technical Paper | Blanket Engineering | doi.org/10.13182/FST86-A24731
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An assessment of the role of the design and operating parameters on the performance of solid breeder blankets based on lithium ceramics (Li2O and γ-LiAlO2) was carried out. The results indicate that not only poor thermophysical properties but also uncertainties associated with the property data base are the design-limiting f actors. In addition, the operating conditions such as the upper and the lower temperature limits, the choice of breeder materials either in the form of sintered pellets or in sphere-pac form, the interfacial contact resistance between the coolant channels and the solid breeder, and the diffusion characteristics of tritium and chemical interactions between tritium and the solid breeder play a prominent role in selection of blanket concepts. Designs to account for the expected degradation of the thermophysical properties due to thermal sintering and nuclear irradiation lead to high coolant and structural material fractions, and thus may result in a lower tritium breeding ratio. The results of the parametric studies show that water-cooled solid breeder blanket designs require a firmer data base for the operating temperature limits, the thermophysical properties, the gap conductances, and the tritium retention and release characteristics of solid breeders.