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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
International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering (M&C 2025)
April 27–30, 2025
Denver, CO|The Westin Denver Downtown
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!
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Fusion Science and Technology
May 2025
Latest News
Argonne’s METL gears up to test more sodium fast reactor components
Argonne National Laboratory has successfully swapped out an aging cold trap in the sodium test loop called METL (Mechanisms Engineering Test Loop), the Department of Energy announced April 23. The upgrade is the first of its kind in the United States in more than 30 years, according to the DOE, and will help test components and operations for the sodium-cooled fast reactors being developed now.
Jennifer Lyons, Edward Love, Kim Burns
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 71 | Number 4 | May 2017 | Pages 616-621
Technical Note | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2017.1290944
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
TEACUP (Tritium Effluent Analysis and Core-follow, Up-to-date and Predictive) is a tritium management and supplemental core follow program that allows its users to account for reactor coolant system (RCS) tritium sources, generate discharge release estimates, account for downstream river flows and concentrations, and calculate corresponding uncertainties. The program incorporates water balance methodologies, tritium production estimates from secondary startup neutron sources, soluble boron content, reactor coolant system tritium measurements, and seasonal river flow estimates. TEACUP was designed specifically to facilitate the tracking of Tritium Producing Burnable Absorber Rod (TPBAR) permeation since measuring in-reactor permeation directly is not feasible and prediction methodologies have thus far been insufficient. A number of models, calculations, and correlations were developed in order to quantify all of the leading sources and losses of tritium in the RCS. By comparing all of the known contributors and discharges from the RCS tritium inventory to the measured RCS tritium concentration, the unaccounted for balance (within some band of uncertainty) can be attributed to TPBAR permeation. The tritium release estimates to the river generated from TEACUP are validated by comparing them to the measured tritium releases which match well and give confidence that TEACUP is tracking and accounting for tritium appropriately. An additional check on the methodologies within TEACUP is that the cycle-to-cycle trends for tritium permeation per TPBAR are consistent in behavior and the estimated release per TPBAR across each cycle is the same within their uncertainty.