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.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
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
Nov 2025
Jul 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
December 2025
Nuclear Technology
November 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
The progress so far: An update on the Reactor Pilot Program
It has been about three months since the Department of Energy named 10 companies for its new Reactor Pilot Program, which maps out how the DOE would meet the goal announced by executive order in May of having three reactors achieve criticality by July 4, 2026.
Michael Pietrykowski, Mark R. Scott
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 199 | Number 1 | January 2025 | Pages 151-161
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2024.2344957
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Age dating a sample of nuclear material is a key part of predetonation technical nuclear forensics. As plutonium stockpiles age, they are more likely to require repurification and mixing to remove in-grown daughter products and maintain a consistent product. Existing age-dating techniques do not adequately address this problem. Four models were trained using machine learning techniques to determine (1) if a sample of weapons-grade plutonium had been repurified, (2) the elapsed time after repurification, and (3) the minimum and maximum elapsed times between repurification and its initial separation/purification/fabrication. The trained models predicted the repurification status with 99% accuracy, the age after repurification with a root-mean-square error (RMSE) of 0.34 years, and the minimum and maximum ages before repurification with RMSEs of 4.66 and 9.34 years, respectively. Age dating plutonium provides valuable insight into the country and possibly the facility of origin of the material, which is one tool to deter state-sponsored nuclear terrorism.