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
Reactor Physics
The division's objectives are to promote the advancement of knowledge and understanding of the fundamental physical phenomena characterizing nuclear reactors and other nuclear systems. The division encourages research and disseminates information through meetings and publications. Areas of technical interest include nuclear data, particle interactions and transport, reactor and nuclear systems analysis, methods, design, validation and operating experience and standards. The Wigner Award heads the awards program.
Meeting Spotlight
International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering (M&C 2025)
April 27–30, 2025
Denver, CO|The Westin Denver Downtown
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
May 2025
Nuclear Technology
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Latest News
TerraPower begins U.K. regulatory approval process
Seattle-based TerraPower signaled its interest this week in building its Natrium small modular reactor in the United Kingdom, the company announced.
TerraPower sent a letter to the U.K.’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, formally establishing its intention to enter the U.K. generic design assessment (GDA) process. This is TerraPower’s first step in deployment of its Natrium technology—a 345-MW sodium fast reactor coupled with a molten salt energy storage unit—on the international stage.
Philip T. Choong, Edward A. Mason
Nuclear Technology | Volume 12 | Number 1 | September 1971 | Pages 127-136
Technical Paper | Aerospace | doi.org/10.13182/NT71-A15905
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A conceptual two-stage microthruster employing sublimed molecules as the propellant of the first stage and alpha particles as the propellant of the second stage is analyzed. Transient thermal analysis is developed as a tool to provide design information on material compositions. The numerical result suggests that the radioisotope heating of the nozzle wall could help flatten the subliming surface temperature. The modified Monte Carlo technique for analyzing the vapor flow through the nozzle is shown to be very accurate and flexible. The result clearly points the direction to follow to optimize the performance. Applications of this device are particularly suited in the spin stabilization and the precession damping of small scientific probes.