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Division Spotlight
Young Members Group
The Young Members Group works to encourage and enable all young professional members to be actively involved in the efforts and endeavors of the Society at all levels (Professional Divisions, ANS Governance, Local Sections, etc.) as they transition from the role of a student to the role of a professional. It sponsors non-technical workshops and meetings that provide professional development and networking opportunities for young professionals, collaborates with other Divisions and Groups in developing technical and non-technical content for topical and national meetings, encourages its members to participate in the activities of the Groups and Divisions that are closely related to their professional interests as well as in their local sections, introduces young members to the rules and governance structure of the Society, and nominates young professionals for awards and leadership opportunities available to members.
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!
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Nuclear Science and Engineering
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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.
Magdi M. H. Ragheb, Gregory A. Moses, Charles W. Maynard
Nuclear Technology | Volume 48 | Number 1 | April 1980 | Pages 16-33
Technical Paper | Fuel Cycle | doi.org/10.13182/NT80-A32444
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Pellet and coupled pellet-blanket time-integrated neutronics and photonics calculations are reported for a representative low-gain (25), low-compression (deuterium-tritium core ρr = 9.4 kg/m2) pellet design for an electron beam fusion reactor. Tungsten, lead, and natural uranium are compared as pusher-tamper materials. In the three cases, neutron balances show that neutron multiplication in the pellet compensates for the energy losses and spectral softening due to neutron interactions. Fissile breeding cannot be achieved in the natural uranium case, since the fission reaction predominates. Substantive additional energy can be obtained (∼5.5 MeV/source neutron) in the pellet if natural uranium is used as the tamper material. Neutron and gamma spectra from the pellet micro explosions are given. Natural uranium, tungsten, and lead cause 14, 7, and 4% neutron multiplication, respectively. Compared to the case where a pure 14.1-MeV source is used, the spectra for the lead and tungsten pellets lead to almost the same values of breeding and heating rates. However, these are apportioned differently between the 7Li(n,α) and 7Li(n,n’α) reactions and spatial positions in the blanket. The atomic displacements and the gas production per unit of thermal power produced at the first wall are substantially reduced in the natural uranium case. Natural uranium as a tamper material leads to 8% higher tritium breeding and a 39% increase in energy production compared to the tungsten case. Per unit of energy produced, it leads to 27% less displacement damage and 30%) less hydrogen and helium production than the tungsten pellet case. For larger ρr values, these effects may be more pronounced. These results indicate that longer wall lifetimes may be obtained by neutron spectrum softening in the pellet without affecting the breeding and heat production in the blanket.
