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
Isotopes & Radiation
Members are devoted to applying nuclear science and engineering technologies involving isotopes, radiation applications, and associated equipment in scientific research, development, and industrial processes. Their interests lie primarily in education, industrial uses, biology, medicine, and health physics. Division committees include Analytical Applications of Isotopes and Radiation, Biology and Medicine, Radiation Applications, Radiation Sources and Detection, and Thermal Power Sources.
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.
C. A. Frederick, A. C. Forsman, J. F. Hund, S. A. Eddinger
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 55 | Number 4 | May 2009 | Pages 499-504
Technical Paper | Eighteenth Target Fabrication Specialists' Meeting | doi.org/10.13182/FST55-4-499
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Experiments on the Omega laser at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics require tantalum oxide (Ta2O5) aerogel thin films with a thickness ranging from 70 to 150 m and densities of 250 and 500 mg/cm3. Experiments have been done with the aerogel in a disk geometry with diameters ranging from ~2 to 3 mm with annular slots machined into it and without the slots. These experiments place demanding specifications on the targets in terms of thickness, dimensionality, and mass density variation. Future radiation experiments at the National Ignition Facility will require larger targets ~7 mm in diameter and 200 m thick with more complex features. In the past these targets have been conventionally machined from a starting billet of aerogel ~5 mm in diameter and height. Through a series of steps the aerogel was eventually machined down to the desired thickness. This was a long and arduous labor-intensive process that had high attrition rates and an overall yield of ~50%. We have improved this process by developing a new fabrication technique involving casting the foam to the desired thickness and then laser processing to create the desired features. This technique yields targets that meet the demanding specifications used in recent experiments while increasing throughput, yield, and available feature complexity in targets.