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
Fuel Cycle & Waste Management
Devoted to all aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle including waste management, worldwide. Division specific areas of interest and involvement include uranium conversion and enrichment; fuel fabrication, management (in-core and ex-core) and recycle; transportation; safeguards; high-level, low-level and mixed waste management and disposal; public policy and program management; decontamination and decommissioning environmental restoration; and excess weapons materials disposition.
Meeting Spotlight
Conference on Nuclear Training and Education: A Biennial International Forum (CONTE 2025)
February 3–6, 2025
Amelia Island, FL|Omni Amelia Island Resort
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!
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January 2025
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Latest News
Westinghouse’s lunar microreactor concept gets a contract for continued R&D
Westinghouse Electric Company announced last week that NASA and the Department of Energy have awarded the company a contract to continue developing a lunar microreactor concept for the Fission Surface Power (FSP) project.
Massimiliano Fratoni, Ehud Greenspan
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 168 | Number 1 | May 2011 | Pages 1-22
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE10-38
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This study investigates the neutronic characteristics of the Pebble Bed-Advanced High Temperature Reactor (PB-AHTR), which combines TRISO fuel technology and liquid salt [flibe (2LiF-Be2F)] cooling. Compared to equivalent helium-cooled cores, the flibe-cooled cores feature a significantly larger fraction of neutron loss to coolant absorption but also a reduced neutron loss to leakage. The flibe also significantly contributes to neutron slowing-down and allows an increase of the pebbles' heavy metal-to-carbon volume ratio as compared to helium-cooled cores. In order to guarantee all negative reactivity coefficients, and in particular coolant void and temperature feedbacks, the carbon-to-heavy metal atom ratio must not exceed 300 to 400, depending on the fuel kernel diameter. The maximum burnup attainable from a PB-AHTR that is fueled with 10% enriched uranium and operated in continuous refueling is ˜130 GWd/t HM; this is comparable to the maximum burnup achieved in other high-temperature reactors, either liquid salt or gas cooled. Compared to helium-cooled pebble bed reactors, the PB-AHTR pebbles can be loaded with 2.5 times more fuel, resulting in a smaller number of pebbles to fabricate and a smaller spent-fuel volume to handle per energy generated. Relative to a light water reactor, the PB-AHTR offers improved natural uranium ore utilization and reduced enrichment capacity.