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
Education, Training & Workforce Development
The Education, Training & Workforce Development Division provides communication among the academic, industrial, and governmental communities through the exchange of views and information on matters related to education, training and workforce development in nuclear and radiological science, engineering, and technology. Industry leaders, education and training professionals, and interested students work together through Society-sponsored meetings and publications, to enrich their professional development, to educate the general public, and to advance nuclear and radiological science and engineering.
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.
K. Govinda Rajan, U. Kamachi Mudali, R. K. Dayal, P. Rodriguez
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 20 | Number 1 | August 1991 | Pages 100-104
Technical Note on Cold Fusion | doi.org/10.13182/FST91-A29647
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Following recent announcements of the occurrence of nuclear fusion between deuterium nuclei in palladium near room temperature in an electrolysis cell, explanations for the incredibly large increase in fusion probability have been sought. Two pointers seem to emerge: the high density of deuterium ions sustained by the cathode material and, more importantly, the substantial screening effect produced by the conduction electrons in the host metal, which reduces the D+-D+ barrier. This latter mechanism appears to be a function of the concentration of the D+ ions. It is well known that an electric field applied across a metallic bar produces a large concentration gradient of interstitial ions along the length of the bar. For hydrogen (or deuterium) in metals, ordinary electric fields can produce a concentration gradient of ∼1020 between the ends. Thus, with the simultaneous application of an electric field along the length of the cathode in an electrolysis experiment, an elegant method of producing a nonequilibrium deuterium concentration becomes available. Hence, it is reasonable to expect an enhancement in the nuclear reactions occurring in the cathode in such an experiment. To investigate this phenomenon, a two-compartment electrolysis cell is built. A titanium rod suitably shaped for the application of the simultaneous electric field is employed as the cathode. Electrolysis of heavy water is conducted for several hours. Neutron counters are employed for continuous detection of neutrons. With the size of electrode used and for electric fields of up to 20 mV/cm, neither a significant neutron emission nor any rise in the tritium level in the heavy water are detected. Faint traces of autoradiographs are, however, observed for the cathode.