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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.
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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!
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New laws offer nuclear industry incentives for existing power plant uprates
This year, the U.S. nuclear industry received a much-needed economic boost that could help preserve operating nuclear power plants and incentivize upgrades that extend their lifespan and power output.
Signed into law in 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act offers production tax credits (PTCs) for existing nuclear power plants and either PTCs or investment tax credits (ITCs) for new carbon-free generation. These credits could make power uprates—increasing the maximum power level at which a commercial plant may operate—a much more appealing option for utilities.
B. F. Gore, B. R. Leonard, Jr.
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 53 | Number 3 | March 1974 | Pages 319-323
Technical Note | doi.org/10.13182/NSE74-A23356
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Calculations have been performed which indicate the possibility of reducing below ten years the effective half-life for transmutation of massive loadings of 137Cs placed in the blanket of a controlled thermonuclear reactor (CTR). The calculations assume the cylindrical “standard blanket” geometry and neutron source (which yields a vacuum wall loading of 10 MW/m2 of 14-MeV neutrons). Significant thermal flux enhancement is obtained by (n,2n) reactions in a beryllium moderator. Gas production and induced radioactivity problems in the beryllium moderator are not much worse than in a graphite moderator. For an 80% target-zone loading of 137Cs, a transmutation rate of 290 kg per year per meter of CTR length is obtained. At this loading, the transmutation rate in roughly 1% of the length of a CTR blanket would balance the production rate in a fission reactor of the same power. Constraint of the CTR source strength to yield a wall loading of 1 MW/m2 would increase the effective half-life for 137Cs to more than 20 years.