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.
S.K. Sood, C. Fong, K.M. Kalyanam, O.K. Kveton, A. Busigin, D.M. Ruthven
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 21 | Number 2 | March 1992 | Pages 299-304
Tritium Processing | doi.org/10.13182/FST92-A29761
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA), which is a well established industrial process for separating and purifying industrial gases, is proposed for recovery of hydrogen isotopes from the ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) solid breeder He purge stream. The PSA process has an inherent advantage over a recently proposed Temperature Swing Adsorption (TSA) design because it allows much faster cycling (10 vs. 480 min.) and therefore has significantly (48 times) lower tritium inventory. The maximum tritium inventory for a 10 minute PSA cycle is less than 0.5 g of tritium, thus meeting an important safety goal of ITER. The PSA process is based on using molecular sieve 5A at 77 K, with pressure cycling from 1 – 2 MPa during the adsorption cycle, to a rough vacuum during regeneration. Experiments have been carried out to confirm the H2/He adsorption isotherms on molecular sieve 5A, and to develop new data points at low H2 partial pressures and a temperature of 77 K. A dynamic simulation model has been developed to facilitate system design and optimization. Simulation results indicate that a single-pass hydrogen isotope recovery of 50–80% is achievable, and that hydrogen purity of more than 99% is possible to obtain from the blanket purge stream containing only 0.1% total hydrogen in helium. Further experiments are underway to verify the dynamic simulation results and to investigate alternative adsorbent materials.