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
Nuclear Criticality Safety
NCSD provides communication among nuclear criticality safety professionals through the development of standards, the evolution of training methods and materials, the presentation of technical data and procedures, and the creation of specialty publications. In these ways, the division furthers the exchange of technical information on nuclear criticality safety with the ultimate goal of promoting the safe handling of fissionable materials outside reactors.
Meeting Spotlight
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Aug 2024
Jan 2024
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
October 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
August 2024
Latest News
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.
J. W. Eerkens
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 150 | Number 1 | May 2005 | Pages 1-26
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE05-A2498
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Explicit relations are developed to estimate isotope enrichment factors for iQF6 vapors diluted in a carrier gas G, which are isotope selectively laser-excited and flow subsonically through a wall-cooled cylindrical cell. At gas mix pressures below 100 millitorr, laser-assisted condensation repression on cold walls can induce isotope separations for some vapors at certain cryogenic temperatures. For example, for iSF6/N2 mixtures, narrow temperature "windows" are found in the 70 to 90 K region where enrichments exceed i = 33 = 1.7. For iUF6/G gas mixes, enrichment under full condensation conditions is not possible since the surface potential well (~1150 cm-1) of a UF6 condensate layer is higher than the vibration-to-translation conversion quantum of the v3 vibration (~628 cm-1). However, for UF6* adsorptions on a bare surface of F2-passivated gold with well depth of 400 cm-1 or less, initial isotope enrichments with ~ 1.1 are possible before the surface is covered with UF6 condensate. Throughputs in cold-wall isotope separations are low because of low operating pressures. For enrichments of milligrams of a radioactive isotope in nuclear medicine, this is still useful and offers a low-footprint alternative to calutron or ultracentrifuge separations. Since feed and product streams are the same, the method lends itself to multistaging, with one laser irradiating four or more chambers in series.