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
Isotopes & Radiation
Members are devoted to applying nuclear science and engineering technologies involving isotopes, radiation applications, and associated equipment in scientific research, development, and industrial processes. Their interests lie primarily in education, industrial uses, biology, medicine, and health physics. Division committees include Analytical Applications of Isotopes and Radiation, Biology and Medicine, Radiation Applications, Radiation Sources and Detection, and Thermal Power Sources.
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Apr 2025
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Nuclear Science and Engineering
May 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
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.
J. M. Cardito, E. V. Somers, J. H. McWhirter
Nuclear Technology | Volume 28 | Number 1 | January 1976 | Pages 119-126
Technical Paper | Fuels for Pulsed Reactor / Reactor Siting | doi.org/10.13182/NT76-A31545
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The containment capability of mined subterranean caverns for siting nuclear power plants depends on the flow of groundwater through porous media surrounding the cavern. For a simple cylindrical containment cavern, design correlations were developed relating depth of burial to cavern overpressure. Considering 50 psig as the maximum containment overpressure following a postulated loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA), the minimum depth of burial below the groundwater table for a cavern of 50-ft radius is ∼200 ft. These conditions assure no cavern water flow through the rock to the atmosphere and no cavern contaminant seepage into the groundwater following a postulated LOCA.
