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
Fusion Energy
This division promotes the development and timely introduction of fusion energy as a sustainable energy source with favorable economic, environmental, and safety attributes. The division cooperates with other organizations on common issues of multidisciplinary fusion science and technology, conducts professional meetings, and disseminates technical information in support of these goals. Members focus on the assessment and resolution of critical developmental issues for practical fusion energy applications.
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
Argonne research aims to improve nuclear fuel recycling and metal recovery
Servis
Scientists at Argonne National Laboratory are investigating a used nuclear fuel recycling technology that could lead to a scaled-down and more efficient approach to metal recovery, according to a recent news article from the lab. The research, led by Argonne radiochemist Anna Servis with funding from the Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E), could have an impact beyond the nuclear fuel cycle and improve other high-value metal processing, such as rare earth recovery, according to Argonne.
The research: Servis’s work is being carried out under ARPA-E’s CURIE (Converting UNF Radioisotopes Into Energy) program. The specific project—Radioisotope Capture Intensification Using Rotating Packed Bed Contactors—started in 2023 and is scheduled to end in January 2026.
C. E. Kessel, T. Bohm, M. S. Tillack, P. Titus, Y. Zhai
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 77 | Number 7 | November 2021 | Pages 519-531
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2021.1909988
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Restraining the size of fusion power plants is considered an important avenue to make them a competitive energy source among other forms of energy production. The most critical contributor to the size of a tokamak is the inboard radial build, composed of multiple components with various functions. This build is the ultimate limit to size reduction. The Fusion Nuclear Science Facility is reviewed and each element of the inboard build is described, showing that the build, including breeding blanket, structural ring, vacuum vessel, low-temperature shield, and toroidal field and central solenoid (CS) coils, contributes 2.9 m of build, with 0.6 m of bore hole inside the CS coil, or 3.5 m to reach the plasma scrape-off layer. This implies that it would be challenging to make a significantly smaller build and simultaneously meet all the engineering requirements.