ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
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Division Spotlight
Education, Training & Workforce Development
The Education, Training & Workforce Development Division provides communication among the academic, industrial, and governmental communities through the exchange of views and information on matters related to education, training and workforce development in nuclear and radiological science, engineering, and technology. Industry leaders, education and training professionals, and interested students work together through Society-sponsored meetings and publications, to enrich their professional development, to educate the general public, and to advance nuclear and radiological science and engineering.
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
January 2025
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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?
R. F. Mattas, D. L. Smith
Nuclear Technology | Volume 39 | Number 2 | July 1978 | Pages 186-198
Technical Paper | Material | doi.org/10.13182/NT78-A32077
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A computer model based on available materials property data has been developed to predict the lifetimes of first wall structural materials under a variety of reactor conditions. The model combines the materials property data with the appropriate ranges of limiting criteria to establish design lifetimes as functions of such relevant parameters as temperature and integrated neutron wall loading. Empirical equations developed from existing literature data were used to interpolate and extrapolate the required materials properties over the desired ranges. The present effort has concentrated on the evaluation of two candidate structural materials, namely, Type 316 stainless steel and a vanadium-base alloy (V-15% Cr-5% Ti). Curves have been derived that show the estimated lifetime and life-limiting property as a function of temperature for a specified set of design criteria, e.g., maximum swelling of 4%, minimum uniform elongation of 1%, and total creep strain of <1%, for an applied stress of 103 MPa (15 ksi). The results obtained indicate a much longer design lifetime for the vanadium-base alloy than for stainless steel under the conditions of interest. The computational model has been incorporated into the Tokamak Power Plant Systems Program at Argonne National Laboratory.