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
Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy
The mission of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy Division (NNPD) is to promote the peaceful use of nuclear technology while simultaneously preventing the diversion and misuse of nuclear material and technology through appropriate safeguards and security, and promotion of nuclear nonproliferation policies. To achieve this mission, the objectives of the NNPD are to: Promote policy that discourages the proliferation of nuclear technology and material to inappropriate entities. Provide information to ANS members, the technical community at large, opinion leaders, and decision makers to improve their understanding of nuclear nonproliferation issues. Become a recognized technical resource on nuclear nonproliferation, safeguards, and security issues. Serve as the integration and coordination body for nuclear nonproliferation activities for the ANS. Work cooperatively with other ANS divisions to achieve these objective nonproliferation policies.
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Apr 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
May 2025
Nuclear Technology
April 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Norway’s Halden reactor takes first step toward decommissioning
The government of Norway has granted the transfer of the Halden research reactor from the Institute for Energy Technology (IFE) to the state agency Norwegian Nuclear Decommissioning (NND). The 25-MWt Halden boiling water reactor operated from 1958 to 2018 and was used in the research of nuclear fuel, reactor internals, plant procedures and monitoring, and human factors.
Tilmann Rothfuchs, Johannes Droste, Hans-Karl Feddersen, Stefan Heusermann, Jörn U. Schneefuss, Alexandra Pudewills
Nuclear Technology | Volume 121 | Number 2 | February 1998 | Pages 189-198
Technical Paper | German Direct Disposal Project | doi.org/10.13182/NT98-A2831
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The thermal simulation of drift storage (TSS) full-scale test is being performed in the Asse salt mine in Germany to study the thermomechanical effects of the direct disposal of spent-fuel elements in a nuclear salt repository. The test field comprises two parallel test drifts, in each of which three dummy casks are deposited. The remaining volume of the drifts is backfilled with crushed salt. The casks are equipped with electrical heaters with a thermal power output of 6.4 kW each. The test has been in operation since September 1990. A design temperature of ~210°C at the surface of the heater casks was reached after 5 months. Because the thermal conductivity of the backfill increases with its compaction, the temperature at the surface of the casks subsequently decreased, reaching ~170°C after 5 yr of heating. The drift closure, which causes increasing compaction of the backfill, was considerably accelerated by heating. However, the initial backfill porosity of 35% decreased more slowly than predicted, to ~27% in the heated area at the end of 1995. The average backfill pressure has currently reached 18% of the initial vertical stress in the test field area, which has been estimated at ~12 MPa. Studies of water and gas releases from the backfill material reveal significant increases of carbon dioxide, methane, and hydrogen concentrations due to heating. In situ measurements will be continued in the coming years to study further thermomechanical reactions of the backfill and the surrounding rock salt to the heat input.