ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
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Division Spotlight
Robotics & Remote Systems
The Mission of the Robotics and Remote Systems Division is to promote the development and application of immersive simulation, robotics, and remote systems for hazardous environments for the purpose of reducing hazardous exposure to individuals, reducing environmental hazards and reducing the cost of performing work.
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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Nuclear Science and Engineering
February 2025
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January 2025
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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?
Richard M. Lell
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 178 | Number 3 | November 2014 | Pages 326-334
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE14-16
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The ZPPR-12 experiments conducted by Argonne National Laboratory were designed to study sodium void worth, cell heterogeneity, and neutron streaming. The small core made it possible to conduct sodium void and neutron streaming experiments over the entire core. The simple, clean, single-zone core had no internal structures such as internal blankets or control rods to affect measurements or complicate interpretation of experimental results. Criticality and selected sodium void worth measurements were evaluated for ZPPR-12, and a detailed uncertainty analysis was performed for the measurements chosen for the benchmark. Highly detailed as-built models were developed for all configurations selected for the benchmark. A simplified RZ model was also created for the criticality benchmark. MCNP5 calculations with ENDF/B-VII.0 data for the benchmark models show generally good agreement between calculated and benchmark values for keff and sodium void worth.