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
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.
Shanwen Zhang, Yuntao Song, Zhongwei Wang, Xuebing Peng, Jianfeng Zhang, Yongfa Qin, Linlin Tang, Qiang He
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 73 | Number 1 | January 2018 | Pages 43-49
Technical Note | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2017.1368334
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X), the largest modular stellarator in the world, is in operation at Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics in Greifswald, Germany. The magnet system of the W7-X consists of 50 nonplanar and 20 planar superconducting coils, which are supported by a massive central support structure. All superconducting coils have been subjected to gravity and electromagnetic force due to the interaction between self-field and the coil current in the test conditions in Saclay, France. Each coil is equipped with a few mechanical sensors. Some of the sensors have indicated considerable deviation from the numerical prediction. The nonplanar coil Type 1 is an example of such deviations. This technical note presents structural analyses performed to verify the numerical modeling by checking the stresses in the measurement points. In order to find the reason from the finite element model, three factors are considered: mesh refinement, increasing the region of mesh refinement, and changing the element supports. The results show that the three factors have no impact on the stresses at the measurement points. Finally, special attention has been paid to the sensors during commissioning of the W7-X, which revealed that lack of information about boundary conditions or temperature fluctuations could be the reason for the original discrepancies.