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
Thermal Hydraulics
The division provides a forum for focused technical dialogue on thermal hydraulic technology in the nuclear industry. Specifically, this will include heat transfer and fluid mechanics involved in the utilization of nuclear energy. It is intended to attract the highest quality of theoretical and experimental work to ANS, including research on basic phenomena and application to nuclear system design.
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Jan 2025
Jul 2024
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
February 2025
Nuclear Technology
January 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
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?
M. L. Simmons, Donald J. Dudziak
Nuclear Technology | Volume 29 | Number 3 | June 1976 | Pages 337-345
Technical Paper | Fusion Reactor Material / Material | doi.org/10.13182/NT76-A31599
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An essential element of any fusion or fission reactor materials development effort is the availability of irradiation facilities for conducting radiation effects experiments. A Radiation Effects Facility (REF) was provided for such studies at the Los Alamos Meson Physics Facility. Neutron spectra at the REF can be tailored to approximate those in either a fusion or fission reactor, while providing flux levels of ∼1.4 × 1018 m−2 s−1 at design maximum beam currents. An intranuclear-cascade/evaporation model was used for computing neutron production. Detailed Monte Carlo neutron transport calculations were performed, some of which were experimentally verified in a foil dosimetry program. Such calculations provide the radiation effects experimentalist with information on spatial-spectral variations of the neutron flux over much of the easily accessible experimental volume (∼19 000 cm3), which includes irradiation specimen capsule locations and a rabbit tube. From these data, radiation damage indices such as ratios of parts per million helium to displacements per atom can be calculated and compared to those anticipated in fusion reactor blankets or fast fission reactor cores.