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.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
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
Dec 2025
Jul 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
January 2026
Nuclear Technology
December 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
November 2025
Latest News
Fusion office bill introduced in line with DOE reorganization plan
Cornyn
Padilla
Sens. Alex Padilla (D., Calif.) and John Cornyn (R., Texas) have introduced bipartisan legislation to formally establish the Office of Fusion at the Department of Energy. This move seeks to codify one of the many changes put forward by the recent internal reorganization plan for offices at the DOE.
Companion legislation has been introduced in the House of Representatives by Reps. Don Beyer (D., Va.) and Jay Obernolte (R., Calif.), who are cochairs of the House Fusion Energy Caucus.
Details: According to Obernolte, “Congress must provide clear direction and a coordinated federal strategy to move fusion from the lab to the grid, and this legislation does exactly that.”
Brian M. Patterson, John Sain, Richard Seugling, Miguel Santiago-Cordoba, Lynne Goodwin, John Oertel, Joseph Cowan, Christopher E. Hamilton, Nikolaus L. Cordes, Stuart A. Gammon, Theodore F. Baumann
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 73 | Number 2 | March 2018 | Pages 173-182
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2017.1364923
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The measurement of the density of materials, especially ultralow-density foams, is difficult in that the measurement must be precise and localizable. The density of the material is often governed by its cellular (i.e., porous) structure, and many techniques exist to create that structure. Often, the cellular structure can vary from one location within the material to another, and when at low densities (i.e., densities lower than ~500 mg/cm3), it can vary due to shrinkage during syneresis, collapse under the weight of gravity, or gas/water vapor uptake. Quantifying this variation is important for a variety of applications, especially when used in plasma physics targets. Knowing the density and its variation across the sample is critical for experimental results to be accurately predicted by physics calculations and for modeling the results of the physics targets. The use of quasi-monochromatic radiography provides a means to image the two-dimensional (2-D) distribution of density variation within silica aerogel materials and to quantitatively measure that variation from sample to sample and lot to lot. For this study, two batches of silica aerogels with targeted densities of ~20 mg/cm3 were created, one batch at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and the other batch at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Outlined here is a quasi-monochromatic radiography system using various X-ray sources coupled to a doubly curved crystal optic and X-ray charge-coupled device camera to image and characterize these materials. It was found that measuring the density both gravimetrically and using quasi-monochromatic radiography were statistically identical, although the two batches were found to be slightly higher than their targeted density due to shrinkage. The radiography system also provided 2-D information as to the aerogel quality, i.e., presence of voids, chipped material, or inclusions.