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
Young Members Group
The Young Members Group works to encourage and enable all young professional members to be actively involved in the efforts and endeavors of the Society at all levels (Professional Divisions, ANS Governance, Local Sections, etc.) as they transition from the role of a student to the role of a professional. It sponsors non-technical workshops and meetings that provide professional development and networking opportunities for young professionals, collaborates with other Divisions and Groups in developing technical and non-technical content for topical and national meetings, encourages its members to participate in the activities of the Groups and Divisions that are closely related to their professional interests as well as in their local sections, introduces young members to the rules and governance structure of the Society, and nominates young professionals for awards and leadership opportunities available to members.
Meeting Spotlight
2027 ANS Winter Conference and Expo
October 31–November 4, 2027
Washington, DC|The Westin Washington, DC 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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Nov 2024
Jul 2024
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
December 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
November 2024
Latest News
Disney World should have gone nuclear
There is extra significance to the American Nuclear Society holding its annual meeting in Orlando, Florida, this past week. That’s because in 1967, the state of Florida passed a law allowing Disney World to build a nuclear power plant.
O. Ågren, V. E. Moiseenko, K. Noack, A. Hagnestål
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 55 | Number 2 | February 2009 | Pages 46-51
Technical Paper | Seventh International Conference on Open Magnetic Systems for Plasma Confinement | doi.org/10.13182/FST09-A6981
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A pure fusion mirror device suffers from the predicted low values of the Q factor (energy gain factor). A much higher energy production may be achieved in a fusion-fission reactor, where the fusion plasma neutron source is surrounded by a fission mantle. The fusion neutrons are capable of initiating energy producing fission reactions in the surrounding mantle. A mirror machine can probably be designed to provide sufficient space for a 1.1 m wide fission mantle inside the current coils, and the power production from the fission reactions can in such a case exceed the fusion power by more than two orders of magnitude (Pfis/Pfus [is approximately equal to] 150), suggesting a realistic reactor regime for a mirror based fusion-fission device. An energy producing device may operate with an electron temperature around 1 keV. Transmutation of long-lived radio active isotopes (minor actinides) from spent nuclear fuel from fission reactors can reduce geological storage from 100 000 years to only 300 years. Since the energy of D-T fusion neutrons are above the threshold for the most important transmutation reactions desired for treatment of nuclear waste, there may be an interest for a mirror transmutation device even if no net energy is produced. Recent theoretical simulations have considered the possibility to use the Gas Dynamic Trap (GDT) at Novosibirsk as a subcritical burner for transmutation by fusion neutrons. In the present work, possibilities for mirror based fusion-fission machines are discussed. Means to achieve sufficient end confinement for a straight field line mirror fusion-fission system with a thermal barrier are briefly analyzed. End leakage can alternatively be avoided by connecting the ends of a magnetic mirror with a stellerator tube, while the fusion neutrons are produced in the mirror part where a high energy sloshing ion component is confined. A zero dimensional model for such a mirror-stellarator system has been developed. The computed results indicate some possible parameter regimes for industrial transmutation and power production.
