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?
E. K. Opperman, J. L. Straalsund, G. L. Wire, R. H. Howell
Nuclear Technology | Volume 42 | Number 1 | January 1979 | Pages 71-81
Technical Paper | Material | doi.org/10.13182/NT79-A32163
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An apparatus was developed that utilizes light ions to simulate the effect of a fusion reactor first wall environment on the creep properties of metals and alloys. The creep apparatus includes a wire specimen stressed in the torsional mode. Rotation or strain is measured by an optically coupled photocell tracking system. Temperature control of the specimen is obtained by varying the temperature of flowing helium passing perpendicularly across the specimen. The initial study involved bombarding a 20% cold-worked AISI Type 316 stainless-steel specimen at 400°C with 14.8-MeV protons at a beam intensity of ∼10 µA/cm2 or a displacement rate of ∼3.4 × 10−7 dpa/s. The accelerator was operated intermittently to accumulate 130 h of beam time and a total dose of ∼0.2 dpa. Strain rates on the order of 5 × 10−4% shear strain per hour were observed during irradiation, whereas negligible strain rates were observed when the accelerator was turned off. On a dpa basis, proton-induced irradiation creep rates were approximately one order of magnitude higher than those observed in fast reactor neutron irradiations of the same materials under similar conditions.