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
Decommissioning & Environmental Sciences
The mission of the Decommissioning and Environmental Sciences (DES) Division is to promote the development and use of those skills and technologies associated with the use of nuclear energy and the optimal management and stewardship of the environment, sustainable development, decommissioning, remediation, reutilization, and long-term surveillance and maintenance of nuclear-related installations, and sites. The target audience for this effort is the membership of the Division, the Society, and the public at large.
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
First astatine-labeled compound shipped in the U.S.
The Department of Energy’s National Isotope Development Center (NIDC) on March 31 announced the successful long-distance shipment in the United States of a biologically active compound labeled with the medical radioisotope astatine-211 (At-211). Because previous shipments have included only the “bare” isotope, the NIDC has described the development as “unleashing medical innovation.”
Donald A. Spong, Jeff A. Holmes, Jean-n. Leboeuf, Peggy Jo Christenson
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 18 | Number 3 | November 1990 | Pages 496-504
Alpha Particles in Fusion Research | Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST90-A29285
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Alpha-particle populations can significantly alter existing magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) instabilities in tokamaks through kinetic effects and coupling to otherwise stable shear Alfvén waves. Resonances of the trapped alpha-particle precessional drift, with the usual ballooning mode diamagnetic frequency (ω*i/2) and the toroidicity-induced Alfvén eigenmode (TAE), are considered. These are examined for noncircular tokamaks in the high-n ballooning limit using an isotropic alpha-particle slowing down distribution and retaining the full-energy and pitch-angle dispersion in the alpha-particle drift frequency. Applying this to the Compact Ignition Tokamak (CIT) and the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) indicates that ballooning instabilities can persist at betas below the ideal MHD threshold. These are especially dominated by the destabilization of the TAE mode. In addition, a hybrid fluid-particle approach for simulating alpha-particle effects on pressure-gradient driven instabilities is described.