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
Radiation Protection & Shielding
The Radiation Protection and Shielding Division is developing and promoting radiation protection and shielding aspects of nuclear science and technology — including interaction of nuclear radiation with materials and biological systems, instruments and techniques for the measurement of nuclear radiation fields, and radiation shield design and evaluation.
Meeting Spotlight
2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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
Argonne researching “climate-ready” nuclear plant design
Scientists at Argonne National Laboratory have partnered with Washington state–based Energy Northwest to look at alternative ways to cool nuclear reactors as climate change impacts relied-upon water sources.
Yoon Il Chang, Robert W. Benedict, Matthew D. Bucknor, Javier Figueroa, Joseph E. Herceg, Terry R. Johnson, Eugene R. Koehl, Richard M. Lell, Young Soo Park, Chad L. Pope, Stanley G. Wiedmeyer, Mark A. Williamson, James L. Willit, Reid James, Steve Meyers, Bryan Spaulding, John Underdahl, Mike Wolf
Nuclear Technology | Volume 205 | Number 5 | May 2019 | Pages 708-726
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2018.1513243
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Argonne National Laboratory and Merrick & Company developed the conceptual design of a pilot-scale (100 T/year) pyroprocessing facility for the treatment of used fuel generated by commercial light water reactors and subsequent treatment of waste streams generated during the process. The primary purpose of this study was to perform sufficient engineering for the pilot facility conceptual design so that credible capital and operating cost estimates could be developed. Initial safety, safeguards, and security assessments were also completed to provide a detailed evaluation in these areas that can significantly affect both capital and operating costs. Electrorefining-based pyroprocessing resulted in a compact hot-cell facility with few process equipment systems. The process equipment and support systems were estimated to cost $93 million and the facility $305 million for a project total cost of $398 million. The annual operating cost was estimated at $53 million/year. Scaling up to a commercial-scale (400 T/year) was also evaluated and the capital cost was estimated at $911 million with annual operating cost of $90 million/year.