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
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.
Meeting Spotlight
ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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
First astatine-labeled compound shipped in the U.S.
The Department of Energy’s National Isotope Development Center (NIDC) on March 31 announced the successful long-distance shipment in the United States of a biologically active compound labeled with the medical radioisotope astatine-211 (At-211). Because previous shipments have included only the “bare” isotope, the NIDC has described the development as “unleashing medical innovation.”
Cheng Peng, Youya Song, Jian Deng, Sen Mao, Jiang Wu
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 197 | Number 6 | June 2023 | Pages 1117-1132
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2022.2143208
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Third-generation advanced pressurized water reactors adopt the external reactor vessel cooling (ERVC) strategy to ensure the pressure vessel is not at risk of melt-through in severe accidents, thereby completely controlling radioactive materials in the pile. However, due to its long-term service, vessel aging, steel corrosion, and oxidation may lead to deformation at different locations on its outer surface, forming various shapes of sawtooth structures, thus affecting the heat transfer behavior of the high-temperature walls during ERVC. In this paper, the Fluent code, coupled with boiling heat and mass transfer equations based on user-defined functions (UDFs) was used to simulate the thermal-hydraulic processes on the lower head with three typical sawtooth structures. The distribution of the stagnation zone for vapor buildup was the main focus. By varying the heat flux installed on the lower head and the inlet velocity of the flow channel, the onset time of critical boiling and the development of the location of critical heat flux over time were further investigated. It was found that a long period of unstable bubble generation and detachment before the onset of critical boiling may occur on the lower head. These findings can provide technical support for the safety design of advanced nuclear reactors.