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
Conference on Nuclear Training and Education: A Biennial International Forum (CONTE 2025)
February 3–6, 2025
Amelia Island, FL|Omni Amelia Island Resort
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
February 2025
Nuclear Technology
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Latest News
Reboot: Nuclear needs a success . . . anywhere
The media have gleefully resurrected the language of a past nuclear renaissance. Beyond the hype and PR, many people in the nuclear community are taking a more measured view of conditions that could lead to new construction: data center demand, the proliferation of new reactor designs and start-ups, and the sudden ascendance of nuclear energy as the power source everyone wants—or wants to talk about.
Once built, large nuclear reactors can provide clean power for at least 80 years—outlasting 10 to 20 presidential administrations. Smaller reactors can provide heat and power outputs tailored to an end user’s needs. With all the new attention, are we any closer to getting past persistent supply chain and workforce issues and building these new plants? And what will the election of Donald Trump to a second term as president mean for nuclear?
As usual, there are more questions than answers, and most come down to money. Several developers are engaging with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission or have already applied for a license, certification, or permit. But designs without paying customers won’t get built. So where are the customers, and what will it take for them to commit?
A. J. Ulrich
Nuclear Technology | Volume 2 | Number 1 | February 1966 | Pages 36-40
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NT66-A27565
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A thermionic energy-conversion diode that uses a liquid metal as the electron collector is evaluated. Liquids, such as cesium, rubidium, or potassium and their alloys, are separated from the hot emitter by the vapor film produced in film boiling. Such a vapor film would maintain electrical separation if the emitter became warped because of radiation damage, thus greatly improving the reliability of the in-core thermionic diode. An experiment showed that stable film boiling occurs for ranges of emitter temperatures and cesium and potassium vapor pressures that are appropriate for thermionic diodes. The typical thermionic series-connected fuel-element geometry can be used in a film-boiling liquid-metal design to produce power in the zero g field of space. The improved tolerance to radiation damage and to emitter evaporation requires more precise control of collector temperatures, a modified startup and shutdown schedule to avoid nucleate boiling, and further development of a new thermal divider to exclude nucleate boiling at the edges of the collector surfaces.
