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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
2024 ANS Winter Conference and Expo
November 17–21, 2024
Orlando, FL|Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld
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
Oct 2024
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Nuclear Science and Engineering
November 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
A proactive approach to reactor vessel aging management
Unit 2 at the Prairie Island nuclear power plant near Red Wing, Minn., underwent an outage in fall 2023, which included extensive work on the reactor vessel using a novel approach to replace baffle-former bolts and lower radial clevis insert bolts. The work relied on extensive analysis beforehand to determine which bolts to replace such that only the new bolts were structurally credited for performance of their safety function. This proactive approach eliminated the need for costly contingencies associated with inspections.
M. W. Paris, M. B. Chadwick
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 80 | Number 1 | October 2024 | Pages S110-S119
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2024.2336813
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The term “Bretscher state” may not be as familiar as “Hoyle state,” but its anthropic importance cannot be overstated. In Big Bang nucleosynthesis, the deuterium-tritium (DT) fusion reaction 3H He, enhanced by the 3/2+ resonance due to the Bretscher state, is responsible for % of primordial 4He. While this fact has been known for decades, it has not been widely appreciated, and we recently proposed that its significance be commemorated by naming the 3/2+ state after Egon Bretscher, its discoverer. The importance of the resonant nature of the DT fusion reaction has been amplified by recent activities related to the production and use of terrestrial fusion including recent, net gain shots at the National Ignition Facility. Here, we aim to highlight the anthropic importance of the 4He-producing DT reaction that plays such a prominent role in models of nucleosynthetic processes occurring in the early universe. This primordial helium serves as a source for the subsequent creation of % of the carbon, 12C and other heavier elements that comprise a substantial fraction of the human body. Further studies are required to determine a better characterization of the amount of 12C than this lower limit of 25%. Some scenarios of core stellar nucleosynthetic yield of 12C suggest that even higher percentages of carbon from primordial helium are possible.