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
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
Utility Working Conference and Vendor Technology Expo (UWC 2024)
August 4–7, 2024
Marco Island, FL|JW Marriott Marco Island
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
August 2024
Nuclear Technology
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Latest News
ARPA-E announces $40 million to develop transmutation technologies for UNF
The Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E) announced $40 million in funding to develop cutting-edge technologies to enable the transmutation of used nuclear fuel into less-radioactive substances. According to ARPA-E, the new initiative addresses one of the agency’s core goals as outlined by Congress: to provide transformative solutions to improve the management, cleanup, and disposal of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel.
Robert E. Henry, Michael Epstein, Hans K. Fauske
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 180 | Number 3 | July 2015 | Pages 312-334
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE14-90
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The mechanisms controlling an aluminum-water steam explosion and the possibility that a significant chemical reaction could be initiated have been debated for decades. This paper investigates the influence of hydrogen gas that is generated by the steam oxidation reaction. Most of this gas diffuses to the surface, but some diffuses into the molten metal. Analyses show that at elevated aluminum temperatures sufficient hydrogen is formed to saturate the diffusion layer propagating into the liquid metal, even considering that the hydrogen solubility increases significantly with temperature. If a steam explosion is initiated, the local rapid surface cooling would cause the dissolved hydrogen to become highly supersaturated, such that it would nucleate into high pressure gas bubbles within the locally cooled outer surface of the molten aluminum globules. This high pressure source would strip a thin molten layer, which has the thickness of the cooled thermal boundary, off of the surface as fine fragments that can oxidize explosively in the surrounding environment. Based on this mechanism, a methodology has been developed and found to be in agreement with the available large-scale data regarding (a) the conditions required for the occurrence of a significant chemical component in the explosion and (b) the energy releases that occur when a steam explosion initiates a chemical explosion.