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
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
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
Dec 2025
Jul 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
January 2026
Nuclear Technology
December 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
November 2025
Latest News
Christmas Light
’Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house
No electrons were flowing through even my mouse.
All devices were plugged by the chimney with care
With the hope that St. Nikola Tesla would share.
Herbert Reutler, Günter H. Lohnert
Nuclear Technology | Volume 62 | Number 1 | July 1983 | Pages 22-30
Technical Paper | Fission Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT83-A33228
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Nearly all problems encountered in large High-temperature reactor power plants with respect to design and safety are related to the mere physical size of a larger reactor core. Our analyses show that it is feasible to subdivide a larger reactor core into modular units, analogous to the common practice of using several smaller units instead of one large unit. In connecting several modular reactor units in series,a larger power output can be obtained by merely using simple technical designs,in addition to utilizing the favorable safety characteristics of small pebble-bed cores.It can be shown that for these cores such classical safety devices as shutdown systems and decay heat removal systems lose their dominance in respect to risk evaluations.