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.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
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
Oct 2025
Jul 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
November 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Leading the charge: INL’s role in advancing HALEU production
Idaho National Laboratory is playing a key role in helping the U.S. Department of Energy meet near-term needs by recovering HALEU from federal inventories, providing critical support to help lay the foundation for a future commercial HALEU supply chain. INL also supports coordination of broader DOE efforts, from material recovery at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina to commercial enrichment initiatives.
P. Wydler, W. Heer, P. Stiller, H. U. Wenger
Nuclear Technology | Volume 49 | Number 1 | June 1980 | Pages 115-120
Technical Paper | Nuclear Power Reactor Safety / Fuel Cycle | doi.org/10.13182/NT80-A32512
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In view of the considerable amount of 237Np produced as a by-product in nuclear power reactors, possible utilization of this nuclide in the nuclear fuel cycle has been studied. In particular, the performance of a gas-cooled fast breeder reactor as a neptunium burner was assessed. In a neptunium burner, a major fraction of the 237Np is converted to 238Pu. The 238Pu could be discharged and used to fabricate denatured plutonium fuel elements for light water reactors (LWRs), which are considered to be more proliferation-resistant than ordinary plutonium fuel elements. A strategy was developed and mass flows were computed for a denatured plutonium LWR strategy using uranium, plutonium, and neptunium recycling.