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
Accelerator Applications
The division was organized to promote the advancement of knowledge of the use of particle accelerator technologies for nuclear and other applications. It focuses on production of neutrons and other particles, utilization of these particles for scientific or industrial purposes, such as the production or destruction of radionuclides significant to energy, medicine, defense or other endeavors, as well as imaging and diagnostics.
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
First astatine-labeled compound shipped in the U.S.
The Department of Energy’s National Isotope Development Center (NIDC) on March 31 announced the successful long-distance shipment in the United States of a biologically active compound labeled with the medical radioisotope astatine-211 (At-211). Because previous shipments have included only the “bare” isotope, the NIDC has described the development as “unleashing medical innovation.”
Pavel Hejzlar, Michael J. Driscoll, Mujid S. Kazimi
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 139 | Number 2 | October 2001 | Pages 138-155
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE01-A2228
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A conceptual design of a lead-bismuth-eutectic (LBE)-cooled actinide burner core with innovative streaming fuel assemblies (FAs) is described. The 1800-MW(thermal) core employs metallic, fertile-free fuel where the transuranics (plutonium plus minor actinides) are dispersed in a zirconium matrix. The core contains 157 streaming FAs that enhance neutron streaming by employing gas-filled, sealed streaming tubes at the FA periphery and center. The large reactivity excess at the beginning of life is compensated for by a system of double-entry control rods. The arrangement of top-entry and bottom-entry control rods in a staggered pattern allows the achievement of a very uniform axial power profile and a small reactivity change from control rod driveline expansion. The reactor can operate with an 18- to 24-month cycle length.Safety is provided through negative reactivity coefficients and tight neutronic coupling. The void coefficient is negative for a partially as well as a fully voided core. The effective delayed neutron fraction is 25% less than that of typical oxide-fueled fast reactors, making the requirements on reactor control performance more demanding. The Doppler coefficient is negative with a magnitude appreciably lower than the typical values of oxide fuels in sodium-cooled reactors, but comparable to the values observed in integral fast reactor (IFR) cores with metallic U-Pu-Zr fuels. The fuel thermal expansion coefficient is also negative, having a magnitude approximately equal to the Doppler coefficient. In terms of the transuranic destruction rate per MW(thermal) per effective full-power year, the design is comparable to accelerator-driven systems (ADSs). Long-lived fission products also can be transmuted, albeit at lower incineration efficiency than in ADSs.