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Division Spotlight
Aerospace Nuclear Science & Technology
Organized to promote the advancement of knowledge in the use of nuclear science and technologies in the aerospace application. Specialized nuclear-based technologies and applications are needed to advance the state-of-the-art in aerospace design, engineering and operations to explore planetary bodies in our solar system and beyond, plus enhance the safety of air travel, especially high speed air travel. Areas of interest will include but are not limited to the creation of nuclear-based power and propulsion systems, multifunctional materials to protect humans and electronic components from atmospheric, space, and nuclear power system radiation, human factor strategies for the safety and reliable operation of nuclear power and propulsion plants by non-specialized personnel and more.
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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Latest News
Is waste really waste?
Tim Tinsley
I’ve been reflecting on the recent American Nuclear Society Winter Conference and Expo, where I enjoyed the discussion on recycling used nuclear fuel to recover valuable minerals or products for future applications. I have spent more than 30 years focusing on dissolving and separating nuclear material, so it was refreshing to hear the case for new applications being made. However, I feel that these discussions could go further still.
Radiation is energy, something that our society seems to have an endless need for. A nuclear power station produces a lot of radiation that is mostly discarded. But once fuel has been used, it still produces significant levels of radiation and heat energy. The associated storage, processing, and eventual disposal of this used fuel requires careful management and investment to protect systems and people from the radiation. Should we really disregard—and discard—this energy source, along with all the valuable minerals in the used fuel, when we could instead use it to deliver significant value to society?
Chenglong Wang, Yao Xiao, Jianjun Zhou, Dalin Zhang, Suizheng Qiu, Guanghui Su, Xiangzhou Cai, Naxiu Wang, Wei Guo
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 178 | Number 1 | September 2014 | Pages 86-102
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE13-60
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The fluoride salt–cooled high-temperature reactor (FHR), combining high-temperature graphite-matrix coated-particle fuel (TRISO) for high-temperature gas-cooled reactors and liquid salts developed for molten salt reactors with safety systems that originate from sodium fast reactors, is a new concept reactor. The thermal-hydraulic characteristics of the fluoride salt–cooled high-temperature test reactor (FHTR) are of great importance to the development of the FHR technology, which is mainly ongoing in both China and the United States. In this paper, the thermal hydraulics of the FHTR designed by Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics is studied in different power modes. The one-dimensional temperature distributions of the coolant and the fuel pebble are obtained using a steady-state thermal-hydraulic analysis code for FHR. The detailed local flow and heat transfer are investigated by computational fluid dynamics for the locations that may have the maximum pebble temperature based on the results of a single-channel model. Profiles for temperature, velocity, pressure, and Nusselt number of the coolant on the surface of a pebble as well as the temperature distribution of a fuel pebble are obtained and analyzed. Numerical results indicate that the results of the three-dimensional simulation are in reasonable agreement with those of the single-channel model with a maximum deviation of 17.9%. They also illustrate the safety operation of FHTR in different power modes. This study aims to provide useful information for experimental and mechanism research of FHRs.